In the second round of the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar, Japan beat Germany 2-1 in the first match, welcoming Costa Rica of Spain 0-7 in the first match. After the first match, Japan and Saudi Arabia both dominated the hot search list, becoming the "light of Asia" popular among Asian fans. Because, they beat Germany and Argentina, two favourites to win the title, respectively. It is precisely because of this that the World Cup trip of Japan and Saudi Arabia is favored by Asian fans.
However, football is round. Saudi Arabia lost 2-0 to Poland in the second match of the group stage and did not qualify early. Regarding this match, the fans were not too surprised, after all, there is still a certain gap between the Saudi team and the Polish team. In Japan's match against Costa Rica, fans were almost certain that Japan could take all three points. However, what people didn't expect was that after the squad for this game came out. The Japanese team actually rotated 5 starters at the same time. Yes, excluding the goalkeeper, Japan rotated half of the teams at once.
In response to the rotation of the Japanese team, the well-known commentator Shen Fangjian wrote on social platforms: "Japan is too powerful, I didn't expect to rotate so much... It is indeed ruthless, you can blatantly look down on people in the group stage, which can also be regarded as the embodiment of 'progress', right? "Hope Costa Rica cheers! This Japan is too hot, can you reverse it, people will not rise against the trend? Sure enough, in the end, the direction of the match between the Japanese team and Costa Rica was biased towards Shen Fangjian's evaluation.
In this match, the Japanese team used basically the same tactics as the previous match. They all drew in the first half and won in the second half. However, the end result did not achieve the desired effect. Judging from the scene, the Japanese team did not play badly in this game. From the data point of view, the Japanese team also has an absolute advantage. However, in the end, it was 0-1 that lost the game. Why? Fans who have watched this match will find that the Japanese team feels like something is missing! So, what's missing?
What is less is not luck, nor strength, but heart. It could have been the first game Costa Rica 0-7 Spain, allowing Japan to relax. Perhaps it was the 2-1 Germany in the first game that made the Japanese team too confident, even conceited. In other words, the Japanese team treated Costa Rica as a soft persimmon. Moreover, it was the whole team that treated Costa Rica as a soft persimmon. Otherwise, Morihoichi would not have rotated 5 people at the same time. After all, Costa Rica is the weakest opponent in this group, and Japan will need to face Spain, armed to the teeth. To take all three points from Spain and qualify is really comparable to heaven.