Germany strike late to draw with Spain, keep qualifying hopes alive

Substitute Niclas Fuellkrug’s goal seven minutes from end helped Germany to a 1-1 draw against Spain in the FIFA World Cup Group E match at Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar’s Al Khor, on Sunday evening. The 29-year-old’s close range strike gave the Germans the first point of the competition having lost their first match to Japan 2-1. Fuellkrug’s strike cancelled out the 62nd minute strike by Spanish substitute Alvaro Morata, who beat his marker and flicked the ball in at the near post past goalkeeper Manuel Neuer following a low cross from Jordi Alba to give Spain the lead. The one-all draw has left the group still wide open with Spain needing just a point against Japan to qualify for the knockouts. A win will guarantee them top spot. Germany stay bottom for now, but they can jump to second and qualify for the next phase if they beat Costa Rica and Japan lose to Spain. However, it gets a little bit trickier for Germany if Spain and Japan draw. If Japan draw it would come down to goal difference or goals scored by Germany and Japan. This is the first time Germany have failed to win their first two group stage matches at a single World Cup but they still have hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage of the competition. Meanwhile, Keysher Fuller’s goal helped Costa Rica beat Japan 1-0 in the Group E match played here at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium. The action started as early as the third minute Ayase Ueda helped Japan’s Ritsu Doan in taking a left-footed shot from outside the box but it went to the left of the post. Costa Rica’s Gerson Torres earned a free kick which went was blocked. In the 35th minute, Francisco Calvo left footed shot from outside the box missed to the right. Anthony Contreras’ assist also helped Joel Campbell of Costa Rica left footed shot from outside the box went high and wide to the right. Three minutes later Ritsu Doan’s assist gave a chance to Wataru Endo of Japan but his left-footed shot from outside the box was blocked. In the 41st minute, Anthony Contreras of Costa Rica was shown a yellow card for a bad foul. Japan team too got a yellow card as Miki Yamane was on the receiving end. The first half of the play saw none of the teams getting a shot on the target and hence, the score is 0-0 at half-time. In the second half-time, the Asian team presses hard but either the attempts were saved or blocked. Costa Rica team got another yellow card as Celso Borges did a bad foul. In the 70th minute, Francisco Calvo too got a yellow card and things were not going this team’s way. In the 81st minute, Costa Rican Keysher Fuller’s left-footed shot from the centre of the box went in to hit the top left corner of the goal post giving them a 1-0 lead. This lead was maintained right till the end as Costa Rica made a comeback after suffering a massive 0-7 defeat to Spain. Japan won their opening match against Germany. Costa Rica had lesser possession having 43 percent of it while Japan had 57 percent of it. Japan had three shots on target while Costa Rica had only one which resulted in a goal.