Samurai Blue upset the apple cart as favourites go home early

Samurai Blue upset the apple cart as favourites go home early

No one could have predicted the extraordinary events Japan experienced in the opening fortnight in Qatar.

They basically lost to the team they thought they could beat, Costa Rica, but defeated two giants of the game, former champions Germany and Spain, to reach the last 16.

In doing so, they condemned Germany to a second successive early World Cup exit.

Admittedly Japan's winning goal will be hotly debated for years to come.

To the naked eye, the ball appeared to have gone out of play, but VAR ruled otherwise and the technology prevailed. It must have been by a fraction.

The manner of the goal should not detract from Japan's performance.

They showed remarkable resilience to overcome the talented Spanish side in a match in which the Spaniards held 83 percent possession. It was a superb team performance.

German fans may feel hard done by after defeating Cost Rica 4-2, but realistically will admit their team have not been playing at the expected standard.

Thursday also saw the second-ranked team in the world, Belgium, crash out after failing to beat Croatia.

The game turned into a personal nightmare for Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku who after coming on in the second half missed a series of good chances.

The group stages in Qatar, which ended yesterday, saw exciting games, boring games and a few notable upsets.

That's what you get in any World Cup and Qatar 2022 has been no exception.

In their opening game, Argentina made headlines for the wrong reasons, losing to Saudi Arabia, but turned it around by winning their group.

The England v Wales clash had been dubbed the "Battle of Britain" but the game really didn't live up to that.

It was little more than a skirmish, or from England's point of view, a mopping up operation.

It was the first time two British teams had met in the World Cup finals, but the opening half was quite dull.

Thankfully for England supporters, their team clicked in the second half with Marcus Rashford firing a brace and another coming from Phil Foden.

Newspapers voiced their approval with headlines like "Dragons Slayed" (Daily Mirror), "Rashford Reborn" (Evening Standard), while the Sun acknowledged Rashford's efforts with "Rash, Bang, Wallop."

It is encouraging for England that Rashford has regained his confidence, giving manager Gareth Southgate plenty of options for tomorrow's game against Senegal.

Both Rashford and Foden will be expected to start, but Southgate knows that on the bench he will have the likes of Bukayo Saka, Callum Wilson, Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling who will all be itching for action.

It was a disappointing tournament for Wales who had done remarkably well just to get there, their first time in the World Cup finals since 1958.

Taking a lot of blame for the poor showing has been their long-time talisman Gareth Bale and another former stalwart, Aaron Ramsey.

Neither of them looked fully fit and it seemed to affect the whole squad.

A far more tense affair on Tuesday night was the clash between the USA and Iran.

With all the political drama going in the background, both teams were under huge pressure to perform.

It was a game that needed a hero and up stepped USA captain Christian Pulisic with the only goal, the Chelsea star injuring himself in the process.

Up next for the USA are the Netherlands and that will be another tough one for coach Gregg Berhalter and his team.

The Iranian players were in an unenviable position owing to what has been going on back home and should be praised for their efforts in the most difficult of circumstances.

Australia made it through the group stage thanks to a stunning individual goal by Mathew Leckie.

It was a bitter blow for Denmark who had been hoping to make the knockout stages. The Danes ended their campaign without a win.

Thursday's match between Costa Rica and Germany was also an historic occasion with Stephanie Frappart of France becoming the first woman to referee a match in the men's World Cup finals.

It was also the first all-female refereeing team and it was no surprise they performed admirably.

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