Costa Rica, who lost 7-0 to Spain in the first match of the World Cup, played their second group stage match, and they beat Japan 1-0, keeping aside their hopes of beating the group of death. After the match, Costa Rica's Colombian coach Luis Fernando Suárez told a press conference: "Winning is very important for Costa Rica, the team is still not good in attack, but the most important thing is that we win, we have to wait for the result of another game in the same group, let's see what happens." "The focus battle between Spain and Germany is about to begin, and the result will directly determine Costa Rica's qualification prospects.
"I think the most important thing is the attitude we show, we are a team, everyone knows the importance of winning this game, we all remember what we said to each other in training and this team is going to move forward together. Everything we do today is what Costa Rica has always shown, we are still dreaming of something, we still have a lot to do. Suarez added.
Right-winger Fuller, who scored the winning goal, was named Player of the Match and revealed after the game: "No matter what the outside world thinks, we are very united in the team. Fuller said that after 0-7 Spain, the team was criticized by public opinion, "We know what happened against Spain, that game hurt us, but it also made the whole team more united. Fuller also said, "In addition to scoring, the important thing is that we have improved a lot from the last game and our belief is to win the game at all costs." ”
Regardless of the outcome of the battle for West Germany, Costa Rica faced Germany in the final round of the group, and there was only one way to go.
Costa Rica faced Japan in the 80th minute, grabbing a low-level mistake in the Japanese backline, and Fuller's goal "revived" Costa Rica, who had been in a passive state. Costa Rica's veterans cheered at the moment of the final whistle, most of them having experienced the miraculous journey of the World Cup in Brazil eight years ago, when they overwhelmed three former World Cup winners - Uruguay, Italy and England - in the group of death - to qualify as the first place, and eventually reached the quarter-finals, losing to the Netherlands on penalties and not going further. Eight years later, it may be difficult for them to create miracles again, but the battle against Japan proves that this team of veterans who have experienced Brazil's miracles is still capable of stirring up the storm in the group of death.
In the debut of this World Cup, Costa Rica lost 0-7 to Spain, facing the Matador Legion that blew the storm of youth, Costa Rica's veterans lost without temper, and the slump of the goalkeeper Keylor Navas was also an important factor in the fiasco, sitting on the bench in Paris this season, so that the former Real Madrid goalkeeper was in no state in the World Cup opening game, and many goals conceded were inseparable from his mistakes. In this game, in the face of Japan's attrition style and slower pace in the first half, although Costa Rica could not play an effective counterattack, but in the slow pace, the veterans in the squad were not under much pressure, and both teams did not shoot within the goal frame in the first half, as if tacitly, waiting for the decisive battle in the second half.
Japan coach Hoichi Mori replaced players such as Junya Ito and Kaoru Mikasa in an attempt to speed up and win, and his tactics did come close to working, with two 2014 World Cup members, Borges and Calvo, paying the price of yellow cards to prevent Japan's breakthrough in the middle, and Keylor Navas made a key save in the opening stages of the second half.
Japan's offensive blossomed while Costa Rica waited for a counter-attacking opportunity, which arose in the 80th minute when Hidemasa Morita's tackle was tackled by Tejeda, followed by a fatal assist by Fuller. In fact, Costa Rica had organized an effective counterattack in the minutes leading up to the goal, but Fuller's offside halted the attack. After scoring the goal, Costa Rica was able to defend the victory until the end in the face of Japan's frantic comeback in the last minute, and Keylor Navas, who contributed a key save, also dreamed back to 2014 at this moment.
Keylor Navas, Duvalt, Calvo, Orvieto, Tejeda, Borges and Campbell all experienced a trip to Brazil eight years ago, and the 37-year-old Ruiz on the bench was one of the biggest contributors to the miracle at that time. It may be difficult to replicate the miracle, but after beating Japan and messing up the death group, Costa Rica's veterans have made the most powerful call at the World Cup, and they are definitely not willing to just be a foil, but still burn the last fuel in the tank. In the final battle of the group against Germany, who can say that this Costa Rican team has no chance of creating a miracle? In the World Cup, miracles are never absent.
Just 4 days ago, Morihoichi led Japanese football to another classic reversal in the history of the World Cup, praised by countless people and became Japan's football saint, but this label was completely torn apart 4 days later.
In football, it is difficult to play the world with a set of squads, and the necessary rotation is a compulsory course for coaches, but on a stage like the World Cup, especially when the team has not yet gained the initiative to qualify, a large rotation is tantamount to suicide. Compared with the first game, Moriho made five personnel changes, of which only one player from Kamada Daichi was retained in the front court, and Kiyo Ueda and Yuki Soma, who were at the front, did not even play in the first game, among them, the latter was a player who played for the Nippon Professional League, which is not to say how low the level of the Japanese Professional League, but for Japan, which has a number of players playing overseas, this choice is a little too contemptuous of Costa Rica.
Taking 10,000 steps back, even if Morihoichi really wants to punish the starters who did not perform well in the first game, or let them stay in the last game to play Spain, Morihoichi should send players who are obviously better into the starting lineup, and the ability shown by the three-ball king can be said to be the only one after coming off the bench.
But in the end, Morihoichi made the most arrogant choice, changing five players in one go on a stage like the World Cup, playing unhurriedly in the first half, and people who did not know the situation thought that Japan had won two consecutive group games and qualified early. In addition, many of Morihoichi's adjustments are up for debate, Kaoru Mikasa played in the 61st minute of the game, Junya Ito, who started the game, only played 66 minutes, Takumi Minamino replaced Yuki Soma, who had a mediocre performance in the 81st minute, and Daichi Kamata, who played the worst game in front of Japan and made multiple stop-and-go errors, actually played the whole game.
People are multifaceted, this is vividly shown in Morihoichi's last two coaching games, facing Germany, the world is admiring Morihoichi's courage, but in the face of Costa Rica, his conservative in his bones began to occupy the high ground, facing the first game net swallowed 7 goals, this game is obviously ready to lose less when winning, take points to win Costa Rica, Morihoichi's adjustment came too slowly, he almost wasted the entire first half of the time with the opponent to play home.
After watching this game, you will not wonder why Morihoichi has encountered so many doubts in Japan over the years, and it is not difficult to understand why the Japanese team lost 0-1 against Oman against Saudi Arabia, and the attack was weak, of course, and the East Asian Cup and the Chinese team 0-0, it seems that this Japanese team coached by Morihoichi can only play those backwater matches, such as their performance after 3 wins and 2 losses in the World Preliminary Round, such as the final round of the East Asian Cup must win South Korea, such as the first game of the World Cup, But if there is no pressure, no one pushes Mori behind his back, and he seems to be useless.
If the Japanese team is finally out of this group, then Morihoichi will undoubtedly pay the price for his unreasonable adjustment of this game, and there is a high probability of ending his Japanese team coaching career, but before this, Morihoichi still has a chance to complete self-saving, losing to Costa Rica is not the end of the world for the Japanese team, no matter what the result of tonight's match between Germany and Spain, facing Spain in the final round, they can still use a win to advance to the knockout round, but there is no doubt that against the Matador, Japan needs the bloody Morihoichi, And not Morihoichi, who is rigid and self-serving.