FIFA World Cup 2022, Costa Rica 2-4 Germany: Flick’s men and Los Ticos crash out following six-goal thriller

Needing
a
victory
to
have
any
chance
of
reaching
the
round
of
16,
Germany
secured
their
first
win
of
the
tournament
but
bow
out
at
the
group
stage
for
a
second
successive
World
Cup.

Serge
Gnabry
gave
them
a
richly
deserved
early
lead,
but
Yeltsin
Tejeda
equalised
with
his
first
international
goal
in
the
second
half
and
Costa
Rica
were
heading
for
the
knockout
stage
after
Juan
Pablo
Vargas
put
them
in
front.

Havertz
levelled
not
long
after
Vargas’ goal
and
struck
again
to
put
Germany
back
in
front,
with
fellow
substitute
Niclas
Fullkrug
then
adding
a
late
fourth
goal

It
was
Japan
and
Spain
who
advance
from
Group
E,
though,
with
the
Samurai
Blue
finishing
top
after
their
surprise
2-1
win
over
Luis
Enrique’s
side.

Gnabry
opened
the
scoring
only
10
minutes
in,
meeting
David
Raum’s
cross
from
the
left
with
a
glancing
header
that
found
the
far
corner
of
the
net.

FIFA
World
Cup
2022,
Japan
2-1
Spain:
Samurai
Blue
top
Group
E
as
La
Roja
survive
huge
scare

Leon
Goretzka’s
header
was
kept
out
by
Keylor
Navas,
Musiala
fired
wide
after
turning
sharply
and
surging
into
the
box
and
Gnabry
was
only
just
off
target
with
a
right-foot
drive
as
Germany
continued
to
dominate.

But
Keysher
Fuller
almost
equalised
from
out
of
the
blue
late
in
the
first
half,
Manuel
Neuer
superbly
tipping
his
shot
around
the
post
after
a
mistake
from
Antonio
Rudiger.

News
of
Japan
leading
Spain
left
Germany
fans
with
hands
on
heads
and
things
took
another
turn
for
the
worse
when
Tejeda
was
on
hand
to
finish
from
close
range
after
Neuer
could
only
palm
Kendall
Waston’s
header
into
his
path
in
the
58th
minute.

Musiala
twice
struck
the
right-hand
post
and
Rudiger
hit
the
outside
of
the
same
upright
as
Germany
desperately
tried
to
stay
alive.

Costa
Rica
then
stunned
Germany
once
again
by
taking
the
lead
after
70
minutes,
Vargas
getting
the
final
touch
when
Neuer
as
Germany
failed
to
deal
with
a
ball
into
the
box.

Los
Ticos’ joy
was
short-lived,
though,
as
Havertz
finished
clinically
with
his
right
foot
soon
after
coming
off
the
bench
just
a
few
minutes
after
Germany
had
fallen
behind.

Navas
denied
Fullkrug
with
a
magnificent
save
from
close
range,
but
Havertz
tucked
in
coolly
with
his
left
foot
at
the
back
post.

Fullkrug
looked
to
have
strayed
offside,
but
was
awarded
a
second
goal
in
as
many
games
in
the
closing
stages
following
a
VAR
check
after
he
slotted
in
from
close
range,
but
Germany
bowed
out
on
goal
difference.