Japan beat Spain shock

The 7 minutes of the second half were endlessly long for Japan. In the stands of Khalifa Stadium, the blue shirt fans were happy because the home team was leading Spain 2-1, but were worried, anxious and extremely tense counting down every second when the opponent was constantly besieging and pressing. Many people joined their hands in prayer, and even cried with anxiety. A similar situation also took place in the technical area of ​​the Japanese team, when the remaining players all stood up, nervously watching the final developments. And then everything seemed to burst with joy and excitement when referee Victor Gomes blew the whistle to end the match.

For the first time in history, Japan defeated Spain. For the first time in history, the team from the land of the rising sun respectively defeated two former champions, two forces of world football right in the group stage of the World Cup. Before defeating Spain - the 2010 champion yesterday, Japan also unexpectedly knocked Germany - the 2014 champion - in the opening match.

Thanks to those two shocking victories, Japanese football reached another historic milestone, when it passed the group stage in two consecutive World Cups for the first time. In 2018 in Russia, they also entered the 1/8 round as the second team of Group H - with the same four points and only above Senegal thanks to the sub-index. And now, the Ao Tanaka, Kaoru Mitoma, Shoichi Gonda... go on as the top team, similar to the achievements of the generation Hidetoshi Nakata, Junichi Inamoto ... once achieved at home in the 2002 World Cup. .

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