From the post in question:
I bolded the relevant part.
Had they won, they would’ve gone through.
My maths were right
Thanks, @ISiddiqui!
Trying to recreate the group winners during the course of the game:
At the start Spain/Japan
At 10 Germany scored making it equal on points and GD with Japan but I think Japan was still ahead because they had beaten Germany earlier?
When Spain scored at 11, it was Spain/Germany.
At 48 Japan equalized making it Spain/Japan again and at 51 they moved ahead 2-1 making it Japan/Spain
Then Costa Rica scored twice at 58 and 70 and the two leaders were Japan/Costa Rica.
Then at 73 minutes Germany equalized and it was Japan/Spain again and stayed that way till the end.
Is that about right? Such craziness…
They would have advanced with a win, regardless of the outcome of the other match.
ETA: Just realized that @Frodo already answered.
I’ve died a thousand little deaths tonight, and not in the French petite mort sense… Well, seems like we already lost that thing in the first game to Japan, and that was such an unnecessary loss.
I think this bit is wrong. If Germany were to win by 2 clear goals they would go through in the case of a draw in the other game.
I was copying from an ESPN article that has now been updated. The article clearly stated that Germany had to win and Spain also had to win for Germany to advance.
But your argument appears to be correct.
Fascinating day of football, for about three minutes it looked like both Spain and Germany, titans of modern-day soccer, were both going to be eliminated; in the end only Germany was.
I think anyone who underestimates Morocco (looking at you, Spain) could have a bad day. And nobody should underestimate Japan, who’s taken both Germany and Spanish scalps.
And more to come…
What odds could you have gotten before the tournament that Japan would end up at 6 points, beating German and Spain, and losing to Costa Rica? I wonder if that’s the most improbable result a team in a group stage has ever had?
Didn’t Costa Rica win their group with England and Italy in 2014?
eta Yup, and Uruguay, going undefeated in the group stage and beating Greece in the R16.
Japan has never made it to the quarterfinals, hope the 9th time is the charm
Sorry, didn’t read past the first part.
They definitely have a shot against Croatia. Morocco would have been beatable too though. Honestly, Spain might have the easier route to the semis: Spain gets Morocco + Portugal/Switzerland vs Croatia + Brazil. (Making some assumptions about winners).
Do sportswriters/commentators from other countries belabor the supposed moral failings/emotional devastation of losing in soccer quite like the Brits?
Sample headline today from ESPN: “Germany suffer humiliation of second straight World Cup group stage exit despite win vs. Costa Rica” (the writer in question is Mark Ogden).
Is there something in particular about UK sportswriters that leads them to piss on losing teams like this? “Germany suffers unexpected defeat, exits group stage” would be a lot more reasonable (as well as grammatically correct as far as American audiences are concerned).
I don’t see this tone with U.S.-based coverage.
The English have the illusion that Germany is their arch-enemy in football (which is totally one-sided, we don’t think so at all and respect and admire English football), so it’s simply a case of Schadenfreude combined with, well, English press which isn’t known for its subtlety.
I don’t see a belabouring of a moral failure in this headline. There is emotion in it beyond the factual but that is standard for a headline. Isn’t ESPN American anyway? And the writer may not be responsible for the headline - typically they are written by a sub-editor.
(sigh) I traveled today and was able to watch Spain - Japan, but not Germany…so it was click refresh, and friends texting me updates the whole match. Just miserable at the end watching Spain fail .
It’s typical of British sportswriting (related to classic Fleet Street-style hyperbole?), and the writer himself is a Brit. ESPN apparently farms out much of its World Cup coverage to U.K. sportswriters. And I’ve frequently seen losing British teams subjected to this kind of over-the-top scorn.
There are upsets all the time in American pro and college sports, and teams/players rarely are described as humiliated or suffering catastrophic defeat by sports media.
I don’t see what’s scornful about it. The headlines in Germany itself seems similar:
"How embarrassing! We’re out!
[…] an embarrassing defeat against Japan[…]
It is a disgrace!"
Thomas Muller (German player) described it as a “catastrophe”.
It’s a major football country getting knocked out of the World Cup early. It’s a big story.