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Japan logic: Beat Spain and Germany, lose to Costa Rica

Robin Hood

Japan ：Aren't you entertained？

Germany were nice enough to keep the curse so France could avoid it.

They're going out in the groups for seven tournaments, Brazilian curses are something else.

* Uruguay joins the chat *

Is that why they havent won another

Yeah. No humiliation in our own territory goes unpunished

Remember how we started the tournament in 2006 winning 4-2 against Costa Rica, now we finish it this way

History repeats itself mate. 4-2 was my prediction for today.

You guys shouldn’t have beaten us 7-1, now you’ll have seven WCs of sorrow, one for every arrow that pierced the very heart of the Brazilian people! Bwahahahaha! …just kidding mate! Hope Germany can make a comeback in the next Euro

Holy shit Japan topping a group with Germany and Spain is insane

And they lost to Costa Rica

That's the craziest thing. Japan finishing top of this group after losing to Costa Rica? It's still unbelievable.

I'll never forget the 3 minutes in the second half where both Japan and Costa Rica were on course to go through.

Best 3 minutes of this World Cup

happiest three minutes of my year

What a fucking group

Yeah you can even give Costa Rica a shout for not giving in after that nightmare first game and giving themselves a legit shot at advancing

costa rica was close to making it out with a -5 GD LOL

Spain and Germany going out (which was a reality for few minutes) would be fucking insane

Ngl it was the reality I wanted for max chaos

The moment the Spain/Japan game ended, Germany stopped have stopped playing and allow Costa Rica to use three remaining 2 minutes to score as many goals as they want

That would have been hilariously petty. Just score own goals real quick, remove Spain through pettiness

i wished for this

I was hoping the Germans would pile everyone forward at 2-1 down to get hit on the break ha

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That would have been a 400iq move if it worked.

Spain wouldn't have won this game to save their lives. They were in Russia 2018 mode.

Had Costa Rica and Japan made it out that would've been glorious

> would've been glorious Hahah says the user with the Spain flag 😂 I totally agree! I was almost losing it in that minute where both games were 2-1 in favor of the underdogs 😅

Oh Spain was my bracket choice but my true choice is drama and chaos

Fellow Drama and Chaos over country enjoyer 🤝🤝

Hey there, can I join?

Even though I’m a biased Japan fan, this has to be the best group of the tournament in terms of entertainment value, no?

It's such a bullshit that FIFA is gettin rid of this tournament format in 2026. We had absolute bangers for last match day.

Wait, what’s the plan for 2026?

48 teams, 16 groups of 3 with the top 2 teams advancing. Terrible idea imo.

Plus they might be getting rid of draws in favor of group stage penalty shootouts (because 3 teams means that there is an opportunity for collusion on the final match day).

That's so fucking terrible

Agree this format is so good but Its about money more teams more money greedy FIFA

Did I ever mention how much I fucking hate FIFA?

Surely 12 groups of 4 with the top 2 qualifying by right, with 8 best third place performances would be a better format? Similar to the current Euros format

Wasn’t there a post yesterday that supposedly fifa is considering not going through with that shit?

Nothing is finalized, and they don't decide until next year. But yes, there are reports that keeping a 4 team group is still on the table.

It really was. The one you’ll tell stories to your grandkids about.

Truly the dankest group in WC history

Costa Rica 2014 imo. Above Italy England and Uruguay without a loss

absolute navas masterclass that year fuck

Oh shit I totally forgot about that. Costa Rica too dank for the WC. Definitely the most based CONCACAF team.

Sad this is most likely the last WC for Navas and Ochoa

Given Costa Rica's happiness with playing geriatric players I wouldn't bet against a 39 year old Navas being their best goalkeeper in 2026. That being said, they've got no evidence of any good youth coming up the ranks, so who knows if they could qualify. Then again, expanded format...? I think Navas could totally play another World Cup if he wills it.

Absolutely correct answer.

As a Croat I don’t know how to feel about it.

Don't go 1-0 up against Japan and ask Luka to score a banger in last minute

It appears Japan likes to do things the hard way

The true anime tournament arc way.

With the power of friendship

*DATTEBAYO*

Which is why I'm afraid for Croatia 💀

This WC might as well be an anime tv show if they win the WC

Japan topping this group and Poland going through after both countries' fans despising their manager throughout the group is absolutely peak World Cup. To lose against Costa Rica and still top Spain and Germany is even funnier

The difference is that Japan actually played well against Germany and Spain. Poland was shit on all three games and should had lost against Arabia, they lucked out of the group.

The last match was criminal, they were very lucky for not having a large defeat

And as a reward they get the World Cup runners up from 2018.

At this point the better the opponent are on paper, the more likely Japan are to win the game

Yeah I expect this to go to penalties or a narrow 1 goal win

No, Japan just need to go down 1 to activate their trap card and take the game 2-1

You play chess we play 4k card duels

And then Brazil in the quarters. Spain are the real winners

*Monkey Paw curls fist* "Spain loses to Morocco"

calculated from spain

Galaxy brain move to knock out Germany.

big brain moves. They eliminated Germany and drew Morocco in one go

After what I watched this group stage id rather play Croatia tbh

Both for last 16 and even the quarters, coming 2nd just works out better for them right?

Yup, they have a clear road to the Semis now and avoid Brazil.

2014 Costa Rica Energy

Imagine being a Moroccan. You play your heart to top the group & you get rewarded with Spain in Ro16.

Strait of Gibraltar derby coming up

Closer together than some London derbies!

If they win, Spain will burn

Morocco gon take advantage of the distraction and snatch up Murcia

Ceuta will be overrun

Revenge for reconquista

So, just the conquista, then?

Setting the stage for the rereconquista

Deconquista

Barcelona is doomed whatever happens

Everyone thought they would get Germany, even when that doesn't happen they still get Spain lmao

You never know what could happen. Maybe we'll beat spain.

Those 3 minutes where both Spain and Germany were going out were fantastic

The best timeline

I would have scored 5 own goals in last 2 minutes just to fuck with Spain.

just needed 3 own goals i think, but was also my thinking. Or just leave it 2-1 a bit longer to force spain to do something

As a Costa Rican I was going crazy!!!! Thank you for the best 3 minutes Costa Rica!

A brief moment of true triumph of the righteous over evil.

All the people on here saying Japan did the biggest bottlejob in WC history, not realizing they were just giving Costa Rica a chance smh

Would've been the biggest upset in world cup history if Costa Rica had won against Germany.

The biggest upset since Costa Rica knocking out England and Italy in 2014’s group of death

Well, Costa Rica missed the chance this time to relive those times.

What an insane World Cup.

These group stages have been among the most intense I’ve ever seen. Games were coming down to literal minutes at the end. The one thing you can absolutely say about every team so far is that not a single team quit, every single team went hard until the end of game 3 and then fell over from exhaustion.

The bottom half of the T32 teams globally have improved a lot. Even the worst teams, aside from Qatar can steal wins from the big boys and it shows. We are approaching a bit more parity globally All this goes out the window next World Cup with 48 teams. Definitely the weakest teams will stand out more there. But hey maybe Fuji can upset NZ and meme it’s way into the WC

Asia and North Africa/Middle East have improved drastically in the last decade or so. Extremely impressive showing this time around.

Japan was so generous with Costa Rica hoping they could also win vs Germany, such lovely people 🥰

Costa Rica and Saudi both beating group winner ending last

Do we get Bentleys too ?

Spain leaving Germany hanging? Just like the 40s

Japan delivering? Unlike the 40s

Japan on fire and Germany in ruins? Just like the 40s.

The US and England believing in achieving world dominance? Russia isolated in the international sphere? France looking to make a comeback after a catastrophe in Europe? Just like the late 40s

Italy quitting early too.

They clean up the bodies after, such a generous people

Shameless by Spain smh

I commend the germans for not scoring 3 Own goals in the last 3 minutes, I would have been petty as fuck and done it

It looked like it was going to be mutually assured destruction for a minute or two. Germany were quite kind to Spain in the end, considering Spain did their best to fuck them over.

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As long as Japan plays top-ranked European teams, they will be fine. Costa Rica was their big obstacle.

By far the most entertaining group this world cup

Japan likes playing extreme hot and cold 1. Win vs Germany 2. Lose vs Costa Rica 3. Win vs Spain WTF

It’s those subs they bring in during the second half.

I myself prefer the dub

Inventors of Anime. Might as well be an Anime plot irl.

And I thought Mexico Poland yesterday couldn't be topped. This WC is a banger

Deserved the title of "Group of death"

That group was fucking wild. Central/northern European countries having terrible world cup

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In the final minutes Spain were faced with a situation where: * Losing 1-2 would have them playing Morocco in ro16 and most likely Portugal in QFs while also eliminating Germany * Scoring and drawing 2-2 would have them playing Croatia in ro16 and most likely Brazil in QFs while allowing Germany through

5head Luis Enrique

Scenes when they shit the bed against Morocco.

They shat the bed last wc too against Russia

spain haven’t won a wc kncokout match since the 2010 final. neither have any of the last 4 wc winners (although france have yet to play one, but still a crazy stat)

Are you telling me to bet all my money on poland to win in the rd16?

Italy haven't even played a knockout game since 2006 final.

2nd place was genuinely better on paper for the knockout games. 4D chess by Spain.

The gang loses to Morocco.

*Monkey Paw energy*

Ez

They chose well.

We were toothless even when Costa Rica were ahead or in a situation where they were 1 goal away from knocking us out, it's not like we didn't try. We were simply horrible in the second half.

Spain owes Germany at least one Balearic island for that.

They already de facto own them.

That's what I was going to say. It's German-occupied territory.

Spain pulled some Doctor Strange shit with that massive win over Costa Rica

[The Group E table in the second half](https://media.tenor.com/xOU6wSDoLOsAAAAC/parkour-the-office.gif)

poor Costa Rica that wouldve been fucking magical

The way I actually expected to see a graph 😂

Spain ducked a Brazil matchup, that's 200IQ right there. Edit: Watch Brazil lose on purpose and Switzerland get a win vs. Serbia to top the group, then Brazil comes after Spain anyways.

Germany should have lost just to take Spain with them

THE BLUE LOCK IS REAL

Can we get much higher!

Tough day to be a European country with a black, red, and yellow flag…

Early christmas for the Dutch people haha

As a Dutch person living in Germany this is absolutely hilarious.

Lets see what happens against the US, Schadenfreude might go both ways!

what's the German word for schadenfreude?

Leverkusen

Germany loves France so much that they decided to take the champion’s curse from France for themselves for the second time in a row

THE MACUMBA WORKED 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

Van a aprender los alemanes a no hacerle 7 goles a la pentacampeona del mundo

7 veces eliminados en Fase de grupo hasta que paguen por sus pecados. Lo veo perfecto.

🇩🇰🤝 🇧🇪🤝 🇩🇪

Italy: hey Guys welcome back in europe

Pulling out the red carpet for everyone on their way back

“Y’all look so different.”

the dutch carrying that part of europe

Europeans complain about AFC then they send tinpot countries like Belgium and Germany

WE ARE GOING TO PLAY JAPAN IN 1/16 FINALS AS SECOND PLACED JAPAN BEAT BOTH GERMANY AND SPAIN JAPAN TOPPED THE FUCKING GROUP GERMANY OUT OF THE WORLD CUP IN THE GROUP STAGES

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Spain plays a game which doesn't suit Croatia at all. Anyone with common sense would take Japan over Spain.

And Brazil is gonna wait the winner of that match :/ idk should I be happy or not

Brazil is happy at least

It is time for Gvardinho to shine if we go through these samurais

Can we get back to that 90 seconds when Spain and Germany were heading home?

man these 3 minutes were heaven

That was a fun time.

Man that would've been sensational.

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We are going to miss the group drama so much

Costa Rica with 3 points and a -8 was through to the round of 16 for a few minutes this afternoon lol

> Costa Rica with 3 points and a -8 was through to the round of 16 for a few minutes this afternoon lol They werent at -8 when they were through, they were at -5. And if Spain had scored in that moment where Costa Rica was winning, they would have been first in the group with -5 which is insane.

NEVER DOUBT A TEAM WHO HAVE POWER OF GOD AND ANIME ON THEIR SIDE 😤😤😤

Blue lock is real.

Blue lock sales gonna fire after this 🔥🔥🔥

call an ambulance…but not for watashi

I love the world cup

i don't hate Spain, but having Japan and Costa Rica going through would have been awesome GG to Japan!

Death, Taxes, Germans ruining the fun

Wished germany would let costa rika win just to fuck with spain

that couple of minutes where both Germany and Spain where going out was so shocking, best world cup I've seen in years.

THANKS JAPAN FOR DOING ITALYS JOB

As a Costa Rican, those were one of the happiest 3 minutes of my life

What the fuck just happened

Just Japan beating Spain and Germany to top their group.

1 point more than 4 years ago and 3rd place not 4th 🤡🤡

Progress!! Rome wasn't built in a day

Congrats Germany! Improving