Zlatko Dalic said Croatia will never surrender and had given their people “faith in a better tomorrow” after overcoming Japan in a penalty shootout to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.
The 2018 runners-up, and the smallest nation left in the tournament, prevailed 3-1 on penalties to deny Japan a first appearance in the last eight. Six of Croatia’s past seven games in the knockout stages of a major tournament have gone to extra time and their head coach insisted it was the mark of a resilient nation that should never be underestimated.
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Dalic, speaking before Brazil were confirmed as Croatia’s opponents in the quarter-final on Friday, said: “We will wait for Brazil or Korea and we shall not surrender. We will keep fighting to achieve our dream. If it’s Brazil then let’s break the game open, give our best and play our heart out.
“This generation is a resilient generation, it does not give up, and they reflect the spirit of the Croatian people who have been through so much pain. The Croatian national team brings so much pride and joy to our people. We give them faith in a better tomorrow.
“We are a new generation of Croatian footballers, 18 were not at the World Cup in Russia, and I told them: ‘This is your chance to make history.’ We did it and the new players have their chance. I always say, do not underestimate the Croatian people.”
The Japan head coach, Hajime Moriyasu, said his team could take pride in defeating Spain and Germany and proving they belong in elite company at the World Cup.
However, he conceded: “We cannot do everything at once. We cannot become superheroes in one go. We need to improve step by step but there’s no doubt that Japan is reaching a level where we can play on the world stage and individual players have also grown.”
Japan froze in the shootout with Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mitoma and Maya Yoshida all having penalties saved by the Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
Moriyasu said: “I think it’s luck, but also training. It’s both. In terms of hitting the target there is still a gap between the top European teams and Japan.
“Croatia’s goalkeeper was wonderful today but the Japanese players also need to be better at penalties. This is something else we need to improve for the future.”
As Croatia’s players tore across from all directions to mob Mario Pasalic it was tempting to wonder how many of them had recorded their highest speed of the night. Their victory on penalties had been on the cards as soon as the clock ticked into extra time: as Japan’s fire fizzled out, the muscles tightening and knocks mounting, the triumph of deliberate knowhow over slick, joyful but sometimes loose entertainment came to feel as inevitable as the rising sun.
Croatia showed once again that they are the masters of walking football. It is an observation, not a slight: no other top international side lacks pace to such a marked degree but they invariably contrive to make sure it does not matter. That takes a preternatural collective knowhow, an assuredness that the first yard or two are in the head, a confidence that nobody should be putting in more miles than the ball itself. With it comes a pronounced lack of fear about the prospect of taking things the full distance.
At times during the 90 minutes Japan had run Croatia ragged, their right wing-back Junya Ito proving the most exciting player on the pitch while Ritsu Doan took the breath away with his close control and masterful range.
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Logic might have had it that a team with this much energy and speed, this keen an ability to break instantaneously from a compact defensive shape into a flurry of moving parts, would be able to run its adversaries into the ground during an added half-hour. But they faced opponents who come to life in slow motion: Zlatko Dalic’s side dug in, dialled things down and did what they generally do.
The mind drifted back to their extra-time win over England in Moscow four years ago, even if that brought a more entertaining spectacle. Back then, Luka Modric put in perhaps the greatest midfield performance of that tournament, dragging an already tired team along and managing to materialise everywhere while giving the appearance of wading through treacle. Modric was less influential here, even if Ivan Perisic’s picture-perfect header was delivered at a time when his general involvement had noticeably stepped up.
He almost scored from a half-volley and, in the first half, bent a delightful ball into Perisic’s path with the outside of his foot: those were the only highlights-reel moments. But Croatia have a habit of wearing you down while leaving you blissfully unaware in the process: here their technical and physical ease produced a lulling effect, an unspoken agreement that this is the way things always are.
Perhaps the way they always will be, too, judging by the run that has seen six of their last seven knockout ties continue beyond regulation time.
Mario Pasalic scores Croatia’s winning penalty. Photograph: Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Getty Images
Croatia’s confidence that, however long and laborious the process, events will turn out to their liking is well earned. The thought upon marvelling at Perisic’s equaliser was that, for all the enterprise and initiative of Hajime Moriyasu’s side, only one player on this pitch had scored in a World Cup final. That experience grants you the vision needed to distil a match to your terms, your tempo, your way of pulling through.
The encouragement for Japan is that they are getting closer. This was their fourth round of 16 exit, all of them achingly close and two having been inflicted by spot kicks. The earlier agony from 12 yards came in 2010 at the end of a historically dreary face-off with Paraguay in Pretoria: that Japan team was tough, adept, a handful in most departments, but had little of the brio this vintage displays.
Their best players operate at top European clubs and most are young enough for another crack. If Croatia are proof that lived experience gives you the edge to navigate those fine margins, the shared journey Japan have undertaken in overhauling deficits against Spain and Germany before falling short will surely be archived as a priceless resource to delve into when inspiration is required in future. They are not yet in the top bracket of international sides but the road there is becoming increasingly clear.
Croatia point the way. Perhaps they will have to evolve once Modric, still a peerless traffic director at 37, opts to stand down. That day is, according to Dalic, not coming any time soon.
Modric’s 24-year-old replacement in extra time, Lovro Majer, was a spark after his arrival and dragged a presentable opening wide at the end. But this was another evening for the methodical and the metronomic: Croatia did not quite walk Japan into submission but they led them expertly to the cliff edge.
Modric fiddled with his hair as he walked off, not showing much sign of concern that his days on this stage could have been numbered. He and Croatia will do it all again against Brazil: reducing Vínicius Jr, Neymar and company to their pace could yet have this competition’s likely winners on the run.
Old habits die hard, as Croatia and Japan can testify. The 2018 finalists took another World Cup tie to extra time before triumphing over a Japan team that was condemned to yet another last-16 exit on penalties.
Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic was the Croatian hero with three saves in the shootout. Japan’s penalties were as poor as the previous 120 minutes had been as Livakovic saved low from Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mitoma and the captain, Maya Yoshida, before Mario Pasalic converted Croatia’s fourth and third successful spot-kick.
Six of Croatia’s last seven knockout games at major tournaments have gone to extra time, the only exception being their final defeat by France in Russia four years ago, and cool heads prevailed yet again.
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Japan’s veteran defender Yuto Nagatomo had evoked the spirit of the Samurai on the eve of the game but this was less warrior and more hypnotherapist trying to cure insomnia. Incense burning in the corner. The game had penalties written all over it long before the painful reality arrived for Japan, who have now suffered four World Cup exits at the last-16 stage.
Hajime Moriyasu’s team had merited a half-time lead on account of sharper distribution, movement and intelligent set-pieces, although it was a low-quality affair. There was a subdued atmosphere in the stands where thousands of seats remained empty in the 44,325-capacity arena and 42,523 was given as the official attendance. Not a chance.
There was a sluggish first-half performance from Croatia too with Zlatko Dalic’s players showing signs of tiredness in their fourth game of the tournament. Their dulled edges allowed Japan to avoid punishment for several defensive errors. Samurai Blue took the game to Croatia initially. Shogo Taniguchi sent a glancing header wide from a well-worked short corner involving Junya Ito and Wataru Endo. The defender’s reaction confirmed he should have found the target after escaping the attentions of opposition centre-halves Dejan Lovren and Josko Gvardiol.
Croatia’s Ivan Perisic scores his side’s equaliser with a powerful header. Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/AP
Ito frequently beat Borna Barisic for pace and his deliveries from the right unsettled the Croatia defence in the opening exchanges. Daizen Maeda and Nagatomo both just failed to connect with one inviting cross along the face of goal. Daichi Kamada squandered another decent opportunity, slicing over after Hidemasa Morita, Maeda and Endo had combined impressively to release him inside the Croatia area.
Croatia’s brightest moments of a flat first half stemmed from Japanese errors rather than their gifted midfield of Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic. Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu committed the first when, attempting to turn a long clearance back to the safety of his goalkeeper, he received a slight push from Ivan Perisic and mis-kicked.
The Tottenham midfielder sprinted clear but was denied from a tight angle by the Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda. The lumbering Bruno Petkovic, handed his first start of the World Cup, was crowded out on the rebound. Petkovic found himself through on goal when Gvardiol’s long ball out of defence resulted in a breakdown in communications in Japan’s backline. The Dinamo Zagreb forward lacked the pace to execute a finish but had Andrej Kramaric completely unmarked to his right. A woeful attempt to find his fellow striker summed up Croatia’s first-half display.
Japan established a deserved lead shortly before the break from another smart corner routine. Ritsu Doan, rewarded with a start for his goalscoring substitute appearances against Germany and Spain, played it short to Kamada. He found Morita, who returned possession to Doan. Taniguchi met the attacking midfielder’s inswinging cross with a glancing header that struck Petkovic and fell perfectly for Maeda, and the Celtic striker gave Livakovic no chance from close range.
At that stage the World Cup was drifting away from Croatia and the 2018 runners-up were heading home with a whimper. But they produced the second-half improvement that was desperately required to drag another tournament knockout tie to extra time.
Croatia levelled 10 minutes after the restart and in style when Perisic met Lovren’s deep cross with a precise, powerful header into Gonda’s bottom left-hand corner. It travelled some distance too and brought Perisic his 10th goal at a major tournament, overtaking Davor Suker’s Croatian record of nine.
Gonda tipped over to prevent Modric edging Croatia ahead with a dipping shot from 25 yards and Livakovic did likewise to deny Endo at the other end. Otherwise there was precious little incident or finesse as the tie drifted towards extra time, where the miserable ordeal continued. Nikola Vlasic and Brozovic scored their spot-kicks before Marko Livaja casually hit a post but, with Japan losing their nerve and Livakovic excelling, it fell to Pasalic to send Croatia through.
Samurai Blue is more than just a nickname to Japan. To hear the veteran defender Yuto Nagatomo speak on the eve of their last‑16 tie against Croatia was to receive a rousing education in how it relates to the character of a national team fighting to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.
“To use the analogy of the samurai,” the 36-year-old began, “before they go into battle they polish their weapons and improve their technique. But if they are scared in battle they will not be able to use their weapons or their technique properly. It is the same in football. Tactics and technique are important but if you are scared on the field they are useless. To maximise all the tactics we have been practising in the last four years we need courage. The Japanese samurai is famous around the world and we would like to fight like samurais. Tomorrow we would like to showcase how courageously we fight.”
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No prizes for guessing who delivers the team talks in the Japan dressing room. The manager, Hajime Moriyasu, was considerably more restrained than the former Internazionale full-back, stressing the need for courage but also for his players to “be themselves”, adding: “They should not be so tense that they forget what they are doing. They have shown their ability and now they can see it produces results.”
Yet there is substance behind Nagatomo’s rallying cry. Japan have come from behind to beat two of the past three world champions in Qatar and did so with only 27% possession against Germany and 18% against Spain, the lowest figure in a World Cup match since 1966. To fight, to never give in, have been hallmarks of their progress to the knockout phase.
“There is an Italian word ‘coraggio’ which means courage,” Nagatomo said. “Before the first game against Germany I shook hands with all the players and we shouted ‘coraggio’ together. Coraggio has manifested itself in our play. We are united as one and that is Japan’s strength. I think we are the most united team at this World Cup. We came through the group stage as No 1. We are very confident now. We don’t need to shout ‘coraggio’ any more.”
Japan need to erase painful memories from their football history on Monday, however. Samurai Blue have reached the last 16 of a World Cup three times and three times they have tasted defeat, each one harder to take than the last. After a 1-0 loss on home soil against Turkey in 2002 came a penalty shootout defeat by Paraguay in 2010. In 2018 they led Belgium 2-0 but Nacer Chadli completed the Red Devils’ comeback with a 94th‑minute winner.
“I’ve never forgotten that battle with Belgium; it has always remained with me,” Nagatomo said. “Sometimes I will just suddenly remember something from that game. The last four years were very tough for me but we have overcome those challenging four years and we have grown mentally and physically. I have participated in a World Cup four times and as far as I can see this is the best and strongest Japan team in the history of the World Cup.”
Ao Tanaka scores the winner against Spain. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Moriyasu said lessons had been learned since 2018 and that Japan have improved because of individual development. That in turn, he believes, has enabled Japan – along with South Korea – to be standard bearers for east Asia on the global stage. But his sights are much higher.
Japan’s manager said: “In order for Japan to win the World Cup we have been strengthening and nurturing youth players. At the same time the Japan football association has a target of contributing to Asian football by sending Japanese coaches to many countries in the region. It is great that Japan is contributing so much to the development of Asian football but unless we can win a World Cup we cannot lead other countries.”
Zlatko Dalic, the Croatia head coach, believes there are parallels between the teams in terms of character and as two proud football nations succeeding in upsetting the established order.
“We reached the final in 2018 because we believed in ourselves, we never gave up, we never surrender and we are prepared to fight,” he said. “I think we have similar mentalities and we are on equal ground. There are 4 million Croats and the results we have achieved in the last couple of years on the world stage is a miracle. We have become a world force and when we deliver great results at a World Cup we know we are bringing great joy to our country. We are the smallest country with the smallest population in the last 16. We are here against the odds.” And looking to bury the last of the samurai.
Amid the stultifying debate over whether the ball had crossed the byline before Ao Tanaka’s winner for Japan against Spain, something more important was lost. The goal ultimately ensured that, for the first time, every inhabited continent was represented in a World Cup last 16. Less than a day would pass before South Korea enhanced Asia’s contingent, guaranteeing the most diverse knockout stage in the tournament’s history.
It makes for a mouthwatering set of ties and will also be music to the ears of Qatar, which assiduously posits itself as a unifying force regardless of evidence to the contrary. Hosting a competition with a greater global spread of participants than any other is not hard to spin positively: the mix is a consequence of drama that, after a slow start, gave this group stage a claim to be the best ever on pure footballing terms.
Those outside Europe and South America have particular cause to agree. Six countries from beyond football’s traditional powerhouse continents have reached the knockout stage and, in the nine previous iterations to include a last 16, that had never been done. Africa has matched its best performance in qualifying two of its five entrants, Morocco and Senegal, without the presence of stars such as Sadio Mané, Riyad Mahrez, Victor Osimhen and Mohamed Salah; Asia has equalled its high watermark of 2002. The Asian confederation can claim its best performance given Australia have fallen under its aegis since 2006.
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What does any of this mean? It may be folly to draw sweeping conclusions given, for those not in Europe, small allocations mean the line between perceived success and failure can be wafer thin. One result can change everything. Only four years have passed since Africa was soul-searching after failing to send anyone beyond the group stage, Didier Drogba describing it as “a big step back”.
Now it can point to a World Cup that, on one level, has already been its best: African teams have won a record seven matches in Qatar and only a decent Ghana side, whose fortunes turned on André Ayew’s early penalty miss against Uruguay, recorded fewer than four points. The standard of football in Africa has not rollercoastered that wildly over the past half-decade in practice.
“It’s very, very difficult to get far if you have five slots,” the then Ghana manager, Otto Addo, pointed out after their opening defeat by Portugal. “If you have 12 or 14 slots the probability that a team will get further is much, much higher.”
Africa will have at least nine sides at the expanded World Cup in 2026, one of whose vanishingly few blessings is that increased allocations for the previously less favoured regions should make it easier to detect trends. Asia’s contingent will rise by at least two. A third of the slots will come from Europe, down from its current share of 40%.
Given hopeful proclamations of a new world order did not come to pass after 2002, when Senegal joined the cohosts South Korea in the quarter-finals, optimism about a wider levelling up should be tempered. But the idea is not entirely fanciful. It was striking to hear the Morocco coach, Walid Megraoui, speaking after the tight goalless draw with Croatia that set the foundations for his team’s later success.
Abderrazak Hamdallah challenges Luka Modric as Morocco match Croatia in their group opener. Photograph: Aijaz Rahi/AP
“We played like a European team and that’s why I am so happy,” he said. “If we had played brilliantly and lost then everyone would be very upset. We played in a very solid way like a European team and made it difficult for them to play against us. We need to look at African specifics and understand how to win when a match is tight.”
It suggests that, in a football world of few secrets, the intensely drilled methods honed in the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A may finally have seeped down into the more chaotic realm of the international game. Bar Qatar and Saudi Arabia, whose respective fortunes were decidedly mixed, every squad in this tournament has a generous sprinkling of players from those major domestic leagues.
That is hardly new: it has been the case for two decades. But when they are augmented by a generation of tactically smart, quick-thinking coaches who understand how to harness the qualities taught abroad in a short preparation time, perhaps it heralds the next step. “The gold standard in the world,” is how the Japan coach, Hajime Moriyasu, referred to European football before defeating Spain. The Japanese game has had strong links with Germany in particular for many years.
On one level, such assessments breed discomfort: the instinctive thought is that Asian and African sides should not feel compelled to eschew their own styles in deference to theories honed in Manchester, Munich and Madrid. Homogenisation should not be the only way. But that is where football has long been headed and it becomes more palatable if the “European” benchmark is seen as a global one, practised by players and coaches from across the world, that happens to have taken hold there.
South American teams have long trodden a successful balance between what works locally and abroad. But this has been an unprepossessing World Cup for Conmebol so far, only two of their teams progressing. That has only happened twice before. Brazil and Argentina both began the tournament with convincing claims to go all the way but, even if Ecuador and Uruguay would both have qualified with four points in a different year, there is no support acts in the knockout stage.
Again, those fine margins: seven of the eight groups contained a team that missed out despite recording a win and a draw. It means nobody has too much cause to fret; if hitherto unheralded outposts are expressing themselves more volubly now, it simply means this tournament is doing the job it should. And even if Europe has only twice been represented more thinly than this in a last 16, a 50% share of the places still tells a tale.
For all the analysis and grasping for reasons, on Saturday night an Australian striker called Mitchell Duke from the Japanese second-tier side Fagiano Okayama will have had reasonable cause to believe he can outgun Lionel Messi and Argentina. Maybe that, more than anything else, speaks of the breadth that lies in front of us.
Luis Enrique was the last to know, or so he claimed. It was after midnight before he found out just how close he and his team had come to disaster at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, the realisation caught on cameras. How had he felt during those three minutes when Spain were out of the World Cup, he was asked in the post-match press conference after his team’s 2-1 defeat by Japan. What was going through his mind? Instead of an answer, there was an “eh?!” and another question. “Three minutes out, why?!” he replied.
A conversation followed in which only Luis Enrique’s half could be heard properly, the journalist’s microphone having been handed back. Usefully, it served as proof, evidence of his approach, the single-mindedness that sets him apart. That at least was the way he was playing it. “You didn’t know?” he was asked. “No,” the coach said. “I’m not focused on the other game; I’m only concentrating on mine …
“Were we knocked out at some point? … When? Why? … Costa Rica were winning 2-1? … You see? Well, fantastic … Of course. I didn’t know. At no point did I find out. My discourse is sincere. I didn’t come here to speculate. I’m not happy that we lost to Japan. I want the best from my team, to win every game… [if I had known we were] out three minutes, I would have had a heart attack.”
Luis Enrique had already spoken to the media by then: there are pitchside positions to go through before coaches get to the press conference room, and although it might not have been expressed explicitly, that momentary elimination had been implicit. If he really didn’t know, others did. What was happening in the other game, where Costa Rica briefly led, was put on the giant screens and when Jordi Alba came on after 67 minutes, he was the bearer of bad news.
“I was looking at the scoreboard and I could see halfway through the second half that we were out,” Pedri admitted. “Jordi came on and said that we had to score, that we were out. We wanted to score but it didn’t come.”
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Did Luis Enrique really not know? There was something in that post-match exchange which felt a little like protesting too much. By then, it was easy to go all conspiratorial, even if only with tongues wedged firmly in cheeks. Spain had been beaten by Japan but things had turned out rather nicely. Sometimes it is better to lose and for all that the coach talked about wanting to win always, this was one of those times. Perhaps Spain had pulled off an elaborate heist. Maybe it was all an act, Luis Enrique playing the part of Lex Luthor, the greatest criminal mastermind of our time.
When Costa Rica took a 2-1 lead against Germany it briefly placed Spain third in World Cup Group E. Germany’s eventual 4-2 win saved La Roja. Photograph: Molly Darlington/Reuters
Nah. Maybe it wasn’t of course, but it was fun to imagine and, boy, had it worked out. After all, Spain had gone through anyway and, by losing, knocked out Germany. Finishing second instead of first meant facing Morocco and possibly Portugal rather than Croatia and probably Brazil. Theirs was now the easier side of the draw, or so it is thought. They had even earned themselves an extra day’s rest. And Luis Enrique said “this punch in the face might be good, helping us realise that this is the World Cup”. Asked if this defeat would knock their confidence, Pau Torres replied: “No, not at all. The opposite: this puts us on alert.”
And who says that Morocco is easier? And is ending up on France and England’s side of the draw really a good thing? “That reading of things is a trap,” the coach said. Pedri added: “There were a lot of things missing from us. They were very intense and left us very little space.” Asked what he had felt sitting on the bench, knowing that Spain were heading out, César Azpilicueta said: “That we had to turn it round as soon as possible! It’s hard to create optimism after a defeat like this. Now we need a cold head. Let’s hope this is useful for us in the future.”
“It was five minutes, no more,” Luis Enrique insisted afterwards. He said the game had gone “mad” and that can happen when a team “has nothing to lose”. Spain had been caught in that moment, unable to control it. Worse, he said they had gone into “collapse mode” and that is a concern. “Japan scored two and if they had needed three, they would have got three,” he said. “We are a long way from where we want to be.”
Only they are where they want to be, of course: in the last 16. The impression was a bad one but they were still standing, still there. Did you know how close you came to elimination, Álvaro Morata was asked. It was only five minutes after full time but he insisted: “There’s no point in remembering that. It’s done. Sometimes you just have to get through the bad moments together and we did that today. We have to wipe out all the toxic stuff and be positive, more united than ever. No one ever went a long way in the World Cup without suffering. You’d have to ask some other teams if they would have liked to give a bad impression but got through.”
It turns out that football miracles can strike twice. In quick succession, and in the same place. After their team’s shock defeat to Costa Rica at the weekend, many Japanese fans were bracing for an early exit from the Qatar World Cup at the hands of Spain on Thursday.
Instead, the Khalifa International Stadium was the backdrop to another extraordinary night for Japanese football, as the Samurai Blue beat the 2010 world champions 2-1 to send them into the last 16 and a meeting with the 2018 runners-up, Croatia. Victory in that match would take Japan to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.
“Doha delights again!” one newspaper headlined its online edition, evoking memories of what the media labelled the “Miracle of Doha” after Japan’s win over Germany.
Much of the post-match punditry centred on Japan’s controversial winner, after the ball was judged by the VAR to have stayed in by a fraction before Kaoru Mitoma crossed it for Ao Tanaka to bundle home, sparking wild celebrations in Doha and Tokyo.
The Daily Sports said Japan had “come within a millimetre” of exiting the tournament. “Luck was on Japan’s side,” the tabloid said. Tokyo Sports, meanwhile, noted that the team had again become the talk of the tournament, days after their giant-killing 2-1 win against Germany, who failed to get out of their World Cup group stage for the second time in a row.
“The foreign media didn’t expect Japan to do well,” the paper said. “But they are all getting excited now, including the BBC.”
While Japanese fans have long been praised for tidying up stadiums around the world, on Thursday there was as much online love for the players.
“Not sure I’ve ever been more pleased for any side in any sport,” Seth Levine said in a message to the Guardian’s live blog. “Love the way they play. No s**t-housery. No histrionics. Brilliant fans. Excellent tactically. Manager wears a charcoal three-piece suit. What’s not to love?”
Ben Mabley, who commentates in Japan on Premier League football, had a message for those who doubted Japan’s footballing pedigree. “Ever since I came to Japan, I’ve heard people say that Japan doesn’t have much of a football history. I don’t want to hear that ever again!” he tweeted in Japanese. “An amazing history is unfolding right before your eyes! Congratulations!”
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Ken Kawakita, who watched the match at home in Yokohama, said he had almost given up hope after Japan’s poor first half. “Spain looked better in every way, but Japan were a completely different team in the second half,” he said.
“I realised that football is as much about the players’ mentality as their footballing ability. I couldn’t believe the transformation in the second half. It’s been a week-long rollercoaster ride. We were elated after Germany, then in despair after Costa Rica. Who knows what’s going to happen next? Croatia aren’t as good as they were four years ago, but I’m trying not to get carried away.”
Not even the pre-dawn kick-off could deter fans who braved the cold to watch the match together on giant screens, or set their alarms to follow the game from their futons, knowing that they would have little or no time to snooze before getting ready for work.
Fans chanting “Nippon! Nippon!” celebrated before sunrise on the famous scramble crossing in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, and later exchanged high-fives with bleary eyed commuters pouring out of the train station.
“I never thought Japan would finish top of their group. Thank you, Japan! I love you guys,” said 19-year-old fan Yusei Sato.
Takuya Kudo, 23, burst into tears as soon as the final whistle blew. “I’m just so happy,” he said. “Honestly, I never thought Japan would do this well. I’m just really thrilled.”
“Samurai Blue” and “Come-from-behind victory” were trending on Twitter, while one user posted a cartoon of a roaring Japanese dragon flanked by those from a lucky Spain, who also qualified from Group E, and clearly bewildered Germany.
Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka posted a manga-style depiction of the Japanese team, while Elon Musk tweeted: “Congratulations, Japan!”
The prime minister, Fumio Kishida described the victory as “historic”, adding that he had called the team’s coach, Hajime Moriyasu, and the president of the Japan Football Association, Kozo Tashima, to offer his congratulations.
“I told them they gave the Japanese people courage and energy,” Kishida said on Twitter. “We are looking forward to the last 16. Fight on, Japan!”
Moriyasu, who had been criticised for his tactics in the 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica, thanked Japan’s travelling fans and the many more back home who had got up in the middle of the night to watch his team. “This victory is a gift for the people of Japan,” he said.
Not content with one jaw-dropping shock, Japan managed a second in feverish conditions here to beat a multi-talented Spanish side and claim another place for Asia in the last 16 of this increasingly unpredictable World Cup. Two goals in quick succession after half-time from Ritsu Doan and Ao Tanaka shocked Spain cold, taking their metronomic rhythms and throwing them into a bin bag that was then politely disposed of.
The Europeans still qualified for the knockout stages, in second place on goal difference ahead of Germany, but if this was a deliberate attempt to choose an easier path through the draw, nobody told that to their shellshocked players. The opening goal came early, in the 12th minute, by which point Spain had already had enough probing possession to have pushed Japan back into a nervous, flat back five.
The move was clever too, starting with combination play between Gavi and Nico Williams on the right. The teenager attempted a low cross that was cleared, but only out to the winger, who looked up and slipped the ball into space on the edge of the area vacated by defenders, but now occupied by Cesar Azpilicueta. The Chelsea man calmly floated a cross on to the penalty spot and Alvaro Morata headed the ball down, back across goal and past Shuichi Gonda.
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Photograph: Caspar Benson
There were no further clear-cut chances in the opening period but it felt all the time like one was never far away. Spain were dominating possession of course – with 80% of the ball in the opening 40 minutes and an additional 8% “in contest” according to the official stats – but the options Luis Enrique’s team were offering up were bewildering. Key to it all was the movement of Gavi and Pedri, the Barcelona pair operating like moons around Busquets, spinning in orbit, but with a trajectory hidden from the opponent.
Spain’s only enemy was themselves, the propensity for coughing up possession as they built from defence something that had nearly cost them against Germany and continued here. Busquets lost the ball on the edge of the box in the eighth minute, though nothing came of it, while Simon had to scramble a clearance off his own line on the half-hour after having dawdled too long on the ball.
Japan’s Kaoru Mitoma stretches to try to keep the ball in play in the lead-up to the winner. Photograph: Petr David Josek/AP
At half-time Hajime Moriyasu made a double substitution, taking off the former Real Madrid man Takefusa Kubo and the veteran wing-back Yuto Nagatomo and replacing them with Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma and Doan of Freiburg. The impact was immediate.
Under the cosh from a renewed Japanese press, the Spaniards’ achilles heel erupted just three minutes after the restart. A jittery Simon played a loose pass out to the left-back Alejandro Balde who was unable to clear before Doan was upon him, seizing possession and bundling towards the box. The midfielder unleashed a shot with all the power he could muster, which was way more than Simon could handle and the keeper palmed the ball into the roof of his net.
The atmosphere in the Khalifa Stadium kicked up a notch immediately and before anyone had had a chance to catch their breath Japan – who had looked set for a hiding just minutes before – were suddenly in front. Again it was Doan who made it, again bulldozing his way past a now bewildered Balde and crossing to the left hand side where Mitoma cut the ball back for Tanaka to bundle home.
Japanese players were delirious, their subs on the pitch, only for the goal to be ruled out by the referee Victor Gomes; the ball having apparently gone out of play as Mitoma kicked it. Of course the gods of VAR then deliberated – aided by the positional sensor in the Al Rihla ball – and they found the goal was good. The ball had stayed in by fractions, people’s fancy dress headdresses were coming off in disbelief.
A flurry of substitutions for both sides followed, with both Morata and Gavi withdrawn for Spain, but gone altogether was the Spanish composure as suddenly, ludicrously, they faced the possibility of elimination. For a minute or two it was even a reality, when Costa Rica took a brief lead against Germany.
In the 70th minute Japan created the next great chance of the game, springing a counter in which Mitoma played Takuma Asano clear through on goal, only for the substitute to slip and scoop his shot when, had he stayed upright, he would surely have been favourite to score. As the game entered its last knockings, Japan rediscovered the same determination that had seen them over the line against Germany a week ago, with blocks to deny Marco Asensio and a low save from Gonda holding a dangerous Dani Olmo shot. And when the final whistle came, all was bedlam.
With Gerard Piqué retiring from football and Sergio Ramos overlooked for the World Cup squad, 2022 has been the end of an era for Spanish centre-backs. Luis Enrique took some criticism for not calling up Ramos – the most capped player in Spain’s history – but the manager stuck to his guns and deserves credit for doing so.
Luis Enrique selected four centre-backs in his squad for Qatar: Aymeric Laporte, Pau Torres and Eric García, who went to the Euros last summer, and the versatile youngster Hugo Guillamón. Yet, despite the availability of these experienced centre-backs, Luis Enrique has used Rodri alongside his Manchester City teammate Laporte at the heart of defence in Spain’s first two games in Qatar.
The dilemma for Spain, as usual, is that they have too many brilliant central midfielders. Gavi and Pedri, despite their youth, are guaranteed starters considering their technical quality, and they benefit from having their experienced Barcelona teammate, Sergio Busquets, alongside them to anchor the midfield.
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Busquets, the only World Cup winner in the squad, is now 34 but we all saw how much Spain struggled without him at the Euros last year. He missed Spain’s first two games at the tournament and they laboured to draws with Sweden and Poland. It’s a tricky one for Luis Enrique: he doesn’t want to lose his captain but he knows Busquets no longer has the legs to control the middle of the park. Given the make-up of his squad, Luis Enrique’s decision to pick Busquets at the base of the midfield and use Rodri in the centre of defence could be a masterstroke.
Rodri was used at the heart of defence by Pep Guardiola – obviously – on a handful of occasions in the 2019-20 campaign, but he is inexperienced in the role. Throwing him in at the deep end at a World Cup was a risk, but Rodri has handled it well. At 6ft 2in, he has the physicality to play the role and he is brilliant at dispossessing opponents – only Declan Rice (82) has won possession in the midfield third more times than Rodri (70) in the Premier League this season. Rodri has the tools to excel at centre-back in the modern game, given his tenacity off the ball and impressive distribution when in possession.
In the long term, Rodri will surely take over from Busquets as the anchor of the Spain midfield – the player in the team who dictates the tempo and helps them dominate possession. His performances at the Euros last year suggest he wasn’t quite ready for the role, but he is developing under Guardiola and will no doubt have a future further up the pitch for the national team. For now, though, Busquets brings experience and balance to the side, and picking the Barcelona captain remains Spain’s best option.
Gavi and Pedri have the freedom to push on and make nuisances of themselves in the final third, safe in the knowledge that Busquets is easing the defensive burden behind them. With such a short lead-in to this World Cup, it helps that the three of them have been working together and forging a relationship and understanding at Barcelona.
When Spain have the ball, Rodri steps into midfield to help build up play. He is a natural at keeping the ball – he has made more passes (1,203) than any other player in the Premier League this season – and he gives Spain more control in games. Picking Rodri against Costa Rica made sense. Spain were expected to dominate the ball and obliterate their opponents – which they did in some style, winning 7-0 – so having an extra midfielder at the back to help build up play seemed smart. Using Rodri against the much tougher Germany, though, was a huge show of faith by Luis Enrique.
Aymeric Laporte (left) has helped his Manchester City teammate Rodri (right) settle in defence for Spain. Photograph: Zabulon Laurent/Shutterstock
It may seem harsh on Torres and García, who are fine ball playing centre-backs. García had the best pass success rate (95.5%) in the squad at the Euros last summer, while Torres (93.9%) ranked third. So why has Luis Enrique opted for Rodri? Perhaps because he offers better balance at the back. Torres, Laporte and García all prefer to play on the left side of a centre-back pairing. With Rodri dropping back into the right-sided role, Laporte is able to stay on the left, where he is more comfortable. This results in a more stable defensive unit.
Bar a minor lapse against Germany on Sunday – when he failed to contain Jamal Musiala in the buildup to Niclas Füllkrug’s equaliser – Rodri’s deployment at centre-back has been a success story so far. If Spain go all the way in the tournament, Luis Enrique’s brave, creative decision to partner Laporte with Rodri will be a key reason behind their success.
The Ahmad bin Ali Stadium exploded when Keysher Fuller’s 14-yard strike proved too high for goalkeeper Shūichi Gonda for two reasons. Those of a Costa Rica persuasion were delighted to see not only the winner of this encounter but also their side’s first shot on target of Qatar 2022, after Luis Fernando Suárez’s men had drawn a blank in their 7-0 drubbing by Spain.
For the goal, Hidemasa Morita was Japan’s first culprit, gifting the ball to Yeltsin Tejeda who found Fuller – and though Fuller subsequently did the business, Gonda was the second Samurai Blue man to blame as he aided him by being too flatfooted.
In a late flurry Japan appealed for a penalty for a Bryan Oviedo handball after Daichi Kamada’s shot but to no avail. So when Germany play Spain this evening they may be the only team with zero points in Group E but this result is a great help as they are to face Costa Rica last. Japan now have to regroup after their seismic victory over Germany as this was a static affair following the falsest of false dawns of a bright opening that had begun when Morita and Yuki Soma claimed a corner between them. The latter swung this in, Ayase Ueda missed the header, and a shaky Costa Rica escaped.
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More encouraging for Costa Rica was a burst from the 120-cap Joel Campbell that earned a free-kick, though Celso Borges’s delivery was plucked from the air easily by Gonda, Japan’s man of the match in the win against Germany.
Japan handed Costa Rica another fright when Ritsu Doan, whose equaliser versus Hansi Flick’s side earned him a starter’s shirt today, flashed the ball across Keylor Navas’s goal but no teammate was present.
From here, the quality flatlined in what was a stodgy midfield standoff. As illustrated by the 0-0 shots-on-target count at the interval, neither team was able to seize the initiative.
Keysher Fuller scores with Costa Rica’s first shot on target against Japan. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
When Francisco Calvo and Campbell did take aim these were flaccid efforts. So it fell into the “small mercies” department that there was only a minute of time added by the referee, Michael Oliver, in the first half.
The Japan manager, Hajime Moriyasu, decided Yuto Nagatomo and Ueda had contributed enough, removing them ahead of the second half for Hiroki Ito and Takuma Asano, the latter of whom scored the memorable goal which downed Germany.
Twenty-seven seconds in and an actual shot was saved by Navas: Morita was the player who finally found the target and the memory was revived of how good Japan were after half-time against Flick’s team.
The manner of a Campbell dribble, in which he engineered a path straight out of touch with scant pressure on him, suggested his nation might not enjoy be any better, though. The former Arsenal forward’s next entry into the contest ledger was to balloon a 40-yard diagonal free-kick out and, when Wataru Endo was fouled, Soma did the same from the edge of the Costa Rican area.
Moments later, at a near-identical spot, Calvo yanked down Junya Ito, just on as a substitute, and this time Kamada was the wasteful one, hammering the dead-ball right into the wall.
Next came Fuller’s decisive intervention but this, really, was no match to remember.
