By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Japan is real. And they already booked themselves in the 2022 World Cup Round of 16.
A week after upsetting the heavily-favored Germany squad, Japan continued its Cinderella run after shocking the former World Cup champs Spain, 2-1, last December 1, 2022, held at the Al Khalifa International Stadium.
Japan stormed back from an early 0-1 goal deficit after Alvaro Morata broke their hearts in the 11th minute of their first-half clash.
The Spanish booters looked in control of the match’s tempo in the next 30 minutes after playing their signature crisp offensive executions but three minutes after the first-half whistle, Japan began its comeback after an equalizing goal from Ritsu Doan.
Doan, one of the heroes during Japan’s win over Germany, replicated his pitch mastery against Spain to give Japan its first goal of the match.
In a sudden quick turn of events in the next two minutes after Doan’s goal, the Japanese side silenced the whole Spanish crowd in attendance after another score was rewarded to them.
The match officials relied on the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to confirm Ao Tanaka’s goal was a success despite the ball being gone out of play as their initial assessment.
After the officials confirmed Tanaka’s conversion, Japan suddenly flipped the switch and held Spain scoreless in the next 40 minutes of action.
The whole Japanese squad then exploded in celebration after the match was officially called over. The same excitement they had when they completed their upset against Germany.
“It’s not like we have re-written history, but we’ve overcome a big wall. I think it’s the result of fighting as a team,” said Doan after the match.
Japan will continue its World Cup wonders next week when they square off against Croatia in their first match of the Round of 16.
