Costa Rica 2-4 Germany: Germany lost in the FIFA World Cup group stage again, even though they beat Costa Rica 4-2 on Thursday night.
The win wasn’t enough for Hansi Flick’s team, though, because Japan beat Spain 2-1 to move on to the next round.
As expected, Germany took the game to Costa Rica right away. In the first two minutes, Jamal Musiala forced Keylor Navas to make a smart save.
Six minutes later, Thomas Muller would get the game’s first real chance. When an excellent looping cross from Joshua Kimmich left him alone, the Bayern forward couldn’t get his header on target when he really should have.
Leroy Sane put the ball in the back of the net with a header a minute later. The former Man City player put a cross from the left by David Raum into the bottom right corner of the net with a flick of his foot. It was a great goal, and Germany didn’t deserve anything less.
In the 15th minute, when Ilkay Gundogan crossed the ball in, Leon Goretzka ran into the box and grabbed it. This gave Germany another chance to score with a header. This time, Navas was there to move the shot on goal out of danger.
After that, the game kept going the same way, with Costa Rica defending every open play as if it were a corner kick, with at least three defenders always in their six-yard box.
At the end of the first half, the Germans had a few more chances to make their lead even more significant. First, Musiala went on a crazy run and shot wide of the post. Then, a few minutes later, his international and club teammate did the same thing. Cruyff-turning his way around a Costa Rican defender, he shot just wide.
After Antonio Rudiger’s terrible defense in the 42nd minute, the score was almost 1-1. Rudiger sent the ball back toward his own goal when he tried to clear it, but Keysher Fuller grabbed it and shot at the goal, but Manuel Neuer did an excellent job of stopping it.
In the other game, Japan came from behind to beat Spain 2-1. Germany tried to throw everything it had at Costa Rica by putting on Niclas Fullkrug.
They could have added to their lead, but instead, they gave up. Yeltsin Tejeda would score the goal after Kendall Waston’s header wasn’t stopped well enough by Neuer. Tejeda came in from behind and put it in with a side foot.
Moments later, Germany went up the other end, and Musiala and Rudiger came close to tying it up. Musiala ran into the left side of the penalty area and hit the ball off the inside of the post. A minute later, Rudiger took a shot from inside the six-yard box that hit the outside of the post.
Germany was able to do it again in the 65th minute. Yes, they got it right for the third time. This time, Musiala curled the ball outside the box and hit the post.
Then it took place.
Costa Rica got another point. Costa Rica 2-4 Germany.
And it might have been the worst goal ever scored in the World Cup. The team from Central America got three headers from a set piece. Juan Pablo Vargas’s final header from four yards out bounced off Neuer’s feet, back off Vargas’s back, and into the goal.
About 30 seconds later, Germany finally scored a second goal. Substitute Kai Havertz caught a pass and chipped the ball over Navas and into the back of the net. This ended Costa Rica’s time in the top two spots in the table.
In the 75th minute, a stunning save by Keylor Navas kept Hansi Flick’s team from getting a third goal. The former Real Madrid goalkeeper did a great job moving across his line to block a point-blank shot from Fullkrug with his face.
In the 85th minute, Havertz made it 3-2 by side-footing the ball into the net after grabbing Gnabry’s excellent cross.
Soon after, Fullkrug scored after Sane sent a deft chest pass to him, putting the score at 4-2, but it wasn’t enough as Japan held on against Spain and knocked Flick’s team out.
Scores for Costa Rica players (4-3-3)
Keylor Navas, the goalie, got a 7/10 because he made a great save later in the game.
CB: Oscar Duarte – 6/10 – fought hard the whole time, especially when Germany crossed the ball into the box.
Kendall Waston, the center-back, got a 7/10. He just stood on his goal line for most of the first half. He helped set up the goal that tied the game in the second half.
CB: Juan Pablo Vargas (7/10): He scored the second goal in the most sloppy way possible.
RM: Keysher Fuller got 5/10 because he missed the only chance Costa Rica had in the first half.
CM: Celso Borges gets a 6/10 because he works very hard off the ball for his team.
Yeltsin Tejeda got a 7/10 because he scored his first goal for his country at the best time.
LM: Bryan Oviedo got a 6/10 because the player who used to play for Sunderland and Everton did a good job defending on his side.
RW: Brandon Aguilera – N/A – He didn’t do anything at all, so he was taken off at halftime.
ST: Johan Venegas got a 5/10 because he worked hard for his team but didn’t add much to it.
LW: Joel Campbell (6/10): This was the out ball for Costa Rica, and it worked pretty well.
Manager: Luis Fernando Suarez – 5/10 – When there’s such a big difference in quality, there’s not much you can do, is there? Still, his team fought bravely against a much better team than in Costa Rica.
Player rankings for Germany (4-2-3-1)
GK: Manuel Neuer – 3/10 – He should have done much better in both goals. He seemed his age.
Joshua Kimmich, right back, got a 4/10 because he didn’t move the ball as quickly as he should have at right-back or in the middle of the field.
CB: Niklas Sule – 2/10 – Let’s call a spade a spade: Sule has been a worse defender at this World Cup than an authentic spade.
CB: Antonio Rudiger – 3/10 – Nearly cost his team a goal when he tried to clear the ball poorly in the first half, and he didn’t get much better after that.
LB: David Raum, 6/10. His beautiful cross set up the game’s first goal.
CM: Leon Goretzka, 5/10. He was taken off the field at halftime.
Ilkay Gundogan, the central midfielder, got a 4/10 because he didn’t do much and was taken off for a striker in the 55th minute.
RM: Serge Gnabry is 7/10. He did a great job of flicking Raum’s cross into the goal to set up the third goal.
AM: Jamal Musiala – 7/10 – Again, lively, and hit the mark twice.
LM: 5/10 for Leroy Sane. He wasn’t great, but he did help out.
ST: Thomas Muller got a 2/10 because he missed a great opportunity in the first five minutes and was terrible overall.
Manager: Hansi Flick – 5/10 – Even though his changes helped Germany get back into the game, he probably should have put Fullkrug up front, to begin with. It isn’t good to lose in the group stage with such a good team.
Kai Havertz was the game’s best player.
