Spain, after multiple twists and turns, finally qualified for the next round of the FIFA World Cup 2022. Japan defeated them in their last match of the group stage. However, Costa Rica’s defeat against Germany meant that Spain will finish in the 2nd spot with Japan topping the table. For a few minutes, Spain was in the 3rd spot, as Costa Rica had a lead over Germany and Spain was trailing against Japan. Had Costa Rica won their match against Germany, Costa Rica would have qualified, which was acknowledged by the coach of Spain Luis Enrique in the press conference after the match. 

Addressing the team’s performance against Japan, Luis Enrique acknowledged that they were on the verge of crashing out as Japan had scored 2 goals in 5 minutes and Costa Rica was leading 2-1 against Germany. 

Luis Enrique has nothing to celebrate

The Spanish coach criticized the performance of the team and said, “In football, you deserve it or not and we didn’t deserve it…I’m not happy at all. I would have liked to be on top and win but in five minutes Japan scored two. We were dismantled…..didn’t have any danger in the first half and then at half-time I told them to be cautious because they had nothing to lose. We collapsed and they could have scored two more goals. I’m not happy at all…. I never celebrate defeats, so we have nothing to celebrate. We have qualified, but I have nothing to celebrate.“

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Luis Enrique said he wasn’t aware of the fact that Spain was out for almost 3 minutes. If he had that news, he would have had a heart attack. 

Japan topped the table and will play their round of 16 match against Croatia and Spain will face Morocco. 

Every team in the Round of 16 is almost confirmed

In other World Cup news, Argentina finished their group stage as table-topper after defeating Poland 2-0. In the other match in the group Mexico defeated Saudi Arabia 2-1. However, both teams ended their tournament, as Mexico missed out on a place in the round of 16 due to their disciplinary record. As both Poland and Mexico had identical goal differences, the disciplinary record was considered to determine who went through to the next round. Unfortunately for Mexico, the team had accumulated more yellow cards than the poles. 

Morocco finished their group stage atop their group after defeating Canada 2-1 and Canada will finish their campaign with 3 losses. From the same group, Croatia vs Belgium ended as a goalless draw. Croatia qualified for the next round while Belgium, the third placed team in the 2018 World Cup, finished in the third spot and crashed out of the tournament. 

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Portugal will face South Korea, and Brazil will face Cameron in their last matches of the group stage. With only 4 matches left in the group stage, we have 12 teams that have confirmed their place in the next round.