FIFA World Cup 2022: Costa Rica inflict 1-0 defeat on sluggish Japan

Costa Rica bounced back on Sunday to win a shocking 1-0 match in Group E against Japan at the FIFA World Cup 2022. With this win, they severely damaged the Samurais’ chances of making it to the World Cup's round of 16. Costa Rica's Keysher Fuller stunned the Japanese in the game’s 81st minute byconverting his team's first shot on target into a goal.

Japan, who had hoped to reach the round of 16 followingtheir historic victory over Germany in the opener, suffered an untimelythrashing at the hands of Costa Rica, thus putting theirambitions of reaching the knockout stages in limbo.

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Even though the experts had placed their bets on Japan before the kickoff,with Costa Rica now changing the qualification scenario completelyafter their win at theAhmad bin Ali Stadium, it would be interesting to see what comes next during the last group stage matches.

Meanwhile, during the match, Japan looked sluggish overall. After a 2-minute opening burst, the rest of the game was seemingly played half-heartedly. They even tried changing gears in the second half by introducing attacking midfielder Kaoru Mitoma, but that didn't help them change the outcome in the end.

Fuller, during the fag end of the match, curled a shot, that ended up going past keeperShuichi Gonda straight into the net giving Costa Rica much-needed relief.

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With this match now done, all eyes will be on the Spain-Germany game to see who advances to the next round. If Spain wins, they enter knockouts and Germany will be out of the World Cup.

(With inputs from agencies)

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