Japan becomes first Asian team to reach to knockout stage of the 2022 FIFA world cup

Japan qualifies for the pre-quarter final after defeating giants like Germany and Spain at the group stage

 

Japan becomes the first Asian team to reach to knockout stage of the FIFA world cup 2022 in Qatar. Japan defeated Spain 2-1 in the last group match and top the group. Japan stunned Germany in the group match.   No other team from Asia has so far made it to the last 16. 

Saudi Arabia, Iran and Qatar failed to qualify for the knockout stage. South Korea will play its last group match today night.  13 other teams from Europe, Latin America, North America, Australasia and Africa also qualifies for the pre-quarters. 

Inspired Japan staged their second stunning turnaround of the World Cup to beat Spain 2-1 on Thursday and advance to the last 16 along with their beaten opponents, dumping four-time champions Germany out in the process.

Japan secured another incredible triumph after beating Germany in their opening game, with their progression from the "group of death" one of the greatest achievements in the country's footballing history.

For a few heart-stopping minutes Spain were poised to head out when Costa Rica were leading in the other game, but the 2010 champions squeezed through after Germany did them a favor by coming back to beat Los Ticos.

Ritsu Doan and Ao Tanaka's goals saw them mount a sensational comeback, just as they did against Germany. Tanaka's goal was highly controversial after the officials relied on VAR to decide Kaoru Mitoma had kept the ball in play by a hair's breadth to set him up.

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