Sport

Japan’s win over Spain eliminates Germany from the World Cup

Published

2 years ago

December 2, 2022

(Last Updated On: )

Germany isn’t advancing to the knockout rounds for a second consecutive World Cup after Japan hung on for a 2-1 win over Spain.

Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 on Thursday afternoon but Japan’s win over the Spaniards at the same time meant Japan won Group E with its victories over Germany and Spain while Spain advanced to the knockout rounds in second via goal difference.

Spain built itself a massive goal differential cushion in its first game of the World Cup in a 7-0 win over Costa Rica. That win meant Germany basically had to replicate that effort with a Japan win to have any tiebreaker edge over Spain.

Germany won the 2014 World Cup in a thrilling final over Argentina. But the Germans finished last in their group in 2018 behind Sweden, Mexico and South Korea to become the third consecutive defending World Cup champion to fail to make it out of the group stage. France broke that streak in 2022 by winning Group D.

How Japan beat Spain

The Spaniards took an early 1-0 lead thanks to an Alvaro Morata goal but Japan scored two goals in the first seven minutes of the second half.

The goals came less than four minutes apart. Ritsu Doan scored to tie the game in the 48th minute and then Ao Tanaka scored a controversial goal to give Japan the lead.

The game-winner was initially not given as it appeared the ball went out of play near the Spain goal. But a video review determined that the ball stayed in bounds. In soccer, the entire circumference of the ball has to cross the entirety of the out of bounds line for the ball to be out of play.

There might have been some daylight between the bottom of the ball and the line too.

The win means that Japan will take on Croatia in the Round of 16 after Croatia tied Belgium on Thursday morning. It’s the second consecutive knockout round appearance for the Japanese and they have made the Round of 16 in four of their last six World Cup appearances.

Is Spain’s World Cup path now easier?

Spain probably isn’t too unhappy about finishing second in the group. Yeah, winning the group is nice, but instead of facing a Croatia squad that made the 2018 World Cup final, Spain now plays Morocco to start the knockout rounds.

The loss also means that Spain likely avoids a potential matchup with Brazil in the quarterfinals and is out of the same side of the bracket as both Brazil and Argentina. Portugal would be Spain’s likely quarterfinal opponent instead and Spain is now on England’s side of the bracket.

Costa Rica gave us a few moments of chaos

There was a brief stretch in the second half of both games that had both Spain and Germany provisionally out of the World Cup.

The only way Japan and Costa Rica both advanced out of Group E was if they both won. And Costa Rica took a 2-1 lead over Germany in the 70th minute after Manuel Neuer couldn’t corral the ball after a free kick.

That lead came as Japan was ahead of Spain. But it didn’t last very long. Kai Havertz scored in the 73rd minute to tie the game for Germany and then gave the Germans the lead in the 85th minute.

Had Spain tied Japan in the second half, Germany would have gone through to the knockout rounds thanks to having a better goal difference than the Japanese. Japan beat Germany 2-1 and lost 1-0 to Costa Rica while Germany tied Spain 1-1.

What’s next for Germany?

The German National Team entered this World Cup without many of the stalwarts that powered them to the 2014 win and were a part of the team that crashed out of the 2018 World Cup. While Neuer and Thomas Muller were the notable holdovers, players like Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala and others got a shot at this World Cup.

And while Germany has a wealth of attacking options, it’s even more clear that it’s in need of a stronger defense. The Germans gave up five goals across three games. The back four was a question entering the tournament and it’s even more of one now. Finding the next era of top-level defenders is a must before the 2026 World Cup.

Where to watch

Afghan fans need not miss out on any of the excitement of this year’s tournament which is being broadcast live and exclusively by Ariana Television in Afghanistan.

For the full broadcast schedule CLICK HERE

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IPL 2025: Gujarat Titans beat Mumbai Indians by 36 runs

In today’s fixtures, Delhi Capitals will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam at 3:30 PM, while Rajasthan Royals will take on Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati at 7:30 PM.

Published

4 hours ago

March 30, 2025

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: )

Gujarat Titans have beaten Mumbai Indians by 36 runs at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Chasing 197 runs Mumbai could only manage to get to 160/6. Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets for the Titans.

Earlier Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl first. Sai Sudharsan chipped in with 41-ball 63 which helped Titans to put on a decent total on what seemed like a tricky surface.

In reply, Mumbai Indians could only score 160 for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs, with Suryakumar Yadav top-scoring with 48 off 28 balls. For Gujarat, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna claimed two wickets each.

With the result, Titans have registered their first win of the tournament while Mumbai after two games remain winless.

In today’s fixtures, Delhi Capitals will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam at 3:30 PM, while Rajasthan Royals will take on Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati at 7:30 PM.

Ariana Television will again broadcast this match live and exclusively across Afghanistan. Fans can tune in from 2:30 PM Kabul time.

Sport

De Kock fireworks see Kolkata thrash Rajasthan in IPL

Published

3 days ago

March 27, 2025

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: )

Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati.

De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare.

De Kock, who has retired from Tests and one-day international cricket for South Africa and whose T20 international future remains uncertain, showed no signs of rustiness.

“To be fair, haven’t felt any challenges yet,” De Kock said.

“Have had three months off which felt nice. Had about a 10-day build-up to this season. Only my second game here, just taking it as I see it.”

Kolkata signed De Kock in November’s auction after he was released by Lucknow Super Giants.
He handed his team a quick start, hitting two fours but then lost opening partner Moeen, run out for five.

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell after a brisk 18 but De Kock stood firm and along with impact substitute Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 22, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 83.

De Kock finished with a six off Jofra Archer as Kolkata bounced back from their opening loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Rajasthan suffered their second straight loss.

Earlier, Kolkata fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Sanju Samson, bowled for 13, and Chakravarthy and Moeen soon took two wickets each.
Wicketkeeper Samson is Rajasthan’s regular captain but has been forced to play only as a batter in the first three matches due to an injury.

Chakravarthy, who starred in India’s recent Champions Trophy triumph, got stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag out caught behind for 25.

Former England all-rounder Moeen, in for the unwell Sunil Narine, stifled the opposition with his off-spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 29.

The 37-year-old and Chakravarthy both struck again as Rajasthan slipped to 82-5 in 11 overs.

Wickets kept tumbling for Rajasthan and despite wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel’s 33 and 16 from Archer, they settled for a below-par total.
“I think 170 was a reasonable score but we fell short by 20 runs,” said Parag. “The plan was to get Quinny out early but he didn’t so we shifted to containing them in the middle overs.”

Arora and fellow quick Harshit Rana also took two wickets each.

Kolkata, under Shreyas Iyer who is now Punjab Kings captain after a $3.17 million move in the auction, won their third IPL title last year.

The seventh match of the day will see Sunrisers Hyderabad play Lucknow Super Giants. The live broadcast of this match, on Ariana Television, will start at 6:15pm.