FIFA World Cup 2022: results of the twelfth game day

On December 1, at the World Cup in Qatar, the final round matches were held in groups E and F. In group E, the main sensation of the tournament took place – the 2014 world champion team Germany leaves the tournament, despite a confident victory over Costa Rica (4:2). For such an early departure, the Germans can, among other things, thank the Spanish national team, which lost to Japan (1:2). In Group F, Morocco defeated Canada, securing their first place in the playoffs, while Croatia and Belgium did not reveal the winner (0:0). This draw left behind the World Cup bronze medalist 2018.

Costa Rica – Germany – 2: 4

Japan – Spain – 2:1

Group E really reminded all of us why the World Cup is a celebration of football: bright games, dramatic denouement, an outsider’s victory.

The German national team had to win with the largest possible score and hope that their European colleagues would not let them down in a parallel match. However, the Costa Ricans and the Japanese had their own plans.

Until the 48th minute, it seemed that the fairy tale would not happen, Spain and Germany were calmly leading in their meetings: there was not even a hint that they might miss. However, it was at this moment that the Japanese team equalized the score, and after 3 minutes it completely took the lead. Ao Tanaka scored after midfielder Kaoru Mitoma provided an assist, pulling the ball off the ribbon, which seemed to go over the end line. The match referee was of the same opinion, so the goal was immediately canceled. However, it was clear that the video assistant referee would be involved in the work. TV replays showed that the Japanese player made a cross after the ball left the field. However, after reviewing the VAR, the African team of referees considered that the projection of the ball still remained in the field. Without a doubt, this goal of Japan – which became a fateful one for this group – will be discussed in the media space for a long time to come.

It was easy to note the moment when the Germans learned that Japan had led. At the same second, the Germans desperately rushed to score, but ran into a counterattack from the Costa Ricans. In the 58th minute, after an excellent combination, Yeltsin Tejeda scored. In the 70th minute, Costa Rica even managed to take the lead: for a few moments, Costa Rica displaced Spain from second place.

Unfortunately for the players and fans of Costa Rica, such a score on the scoreboard did not last long, after only 3 minutes, Kai Havertz, who came on as a substitute, restored the balance again, and on the 85th brought his team ahead. This, however, was still not enough to reach the playoffs, in a parallel match, Japan dried up the game with Spain.

Bottom line: having won against Costa Rica, Germany missed Spain in the next round. After losing to Japan, Spain cut off Germany from the playoffs.

Spain, by the way, is unlikely to be upset because of this situation in the group – now in the 1/8 finals, the Fury Roja will meet not with the vice-champion of the last World Cup, the Croatian national team, but with the more modest national team of Morocco. In addition, thanks to this defeat, the Spaniards got to the bottom of the playoff bracket, which means that until the final they will avoid matches with Argentina and Brazil, which are called the main favorites of the World Cup in Qatar. This state of affairs gave rise to the opinion that Spain deliberately dropped to second place in order to provide themselves with an easier tournament path.

Now for some statistics: for the first time in its history, Germany did not pass the first round of two World Cups in a row. Recall that at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Germany took 4th place in the group.

The Japanese beat Spain with only 17.7 percent of possession. Never before in the history of the World Championships has a team with such a low possession record won. The Spaniards have won only three world championships since winning the world championship in 2010. In Qatar, Spain defeated Costa Rica (7:0), beat Iran (1:0) in 2018, and beat Australia (3:0) in 2014.

Canada – Morocco – 1:2

It was enough for the Moroccan national team to continue playing in the championship. Already in the 4th minute of the match, as a result of an error by Canadian goalkeeper Milan Boryan, Chelsea striker Hakim Ziyech hit the gates of the North Americans. In the 23rd minute, another star of the team, Youssef En-Nesiri, doubled the lead. Even an own goal conceded at the end of the first half had no effect on the situation. The match ended with the score 1:2. Canada lost the sixth match at the World Cup in a row (out of six) and repeated the anti-record of El Salvador.

The Moroccan national team for the second time in its history reached the playoffs of the World Cup from the 1st

places. It first happened in 1986. Then the Moroccans became the first in the quartet with England, Poland and Portugal.

In addition, this is only the fifth time that an African team has taken first place in the World Cup group. Previously, Morocco-1986, Cameroon-1990, Nigeria-1994 and 1998 succeeded. African teams have not won a group of 5 world championships in a row.

In the 1/8 finals, the Moroccan team will meet with Spain.

Croatia – Belgium – 0:0

The Belgian team had to beat Croatia to qualify for the playoffs. However, the team, which is in second place in the FIFA rankings, once again demonstrated a lackluster game and proved that this year it is not worthy of leaving the group. As a result, the stars of the Belgian national team, for whom this World Cup was the last major international tournament, were honored with only 1 goal in three matches, and then against Canada, which did not score a single point.

Thus, for the first time in the 21st century, the Belgian team did not leave the group at the World Cup. On five world championships and the Euro before, Belgium left the group.

After such a performance, it is not surprising that Roberto Martinez announced his resignation from the post of head coach of the Belgian national team. The Spaniard has been coaching the team since 2016 and took third place with it at the 2018 World Cup. His retirement was the third in the 2022 championship – after Carlos Queiroz (team of Iran) and Gerardo Martino (team of Mexico).

Daniel Prilepsky.