Japan pulled off one of the great World Cup upsets in Group E, managing to finish top out of the four teams which included European giants Spain and Germany. The Samurai Blue overcame the two sides on their way to the round of 16, winning both games in dramatic fashion.
Two quickfire goals saw the side turn their opening tie against Germany on its head to win 2-1, but a surprising 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica - who had been thrashed 7-0 by Spain the game before - casted doubt over their progression. The task was then to beat La Roja in their final match, a tough task in itself.
Alvaro Morata opened the scoring in the first-half and a dominant display from Spain saw them fervently tipped to be World Cup winners by many of the pundits. However, they had a soft centre exposed as yet another quickfire double saw the Samurai Blue take the lead, dumping Germany out of the competition.
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