Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan

[LinekersLegs]

There was no chance Spain could get knocked out. They lost and knew that with a loss they went through.

Duh!

Not if Costa Rica won vs Germany

 

[davek]

So you agree the point of a competition is to win but you don’t think a team should do something to make that more likely?

I can’t believe I’ve been sucked into your nonsense again

Im saying one thing: Spain tanked that game. And I'm right.

Dress it up as savvy and clever if you want.

 

[Drico]

Only France can beat Spain. England and Portugal? Are you having a laugh? FFS!

On the contrary. Spain are more than capable of beating themselves. After all, this is what you are intimating happened tonight.

 

[davek]

On the contrary. Spain are more than capable of beating themselves. After all, this is what you are intimating happened tonight.

They let themselves get beaten in this group stage context to get shut of others and avoid a dangerous QF opponent. The KO stage is just do or die.

 

[ToffeeTim]

If Spain wanted to turn the talent on they'd have beaten Japan 5-2 or 6-2...even in the last 20 minutes.

That was a stitch up.

As soon as Croatia finished second in their group this afternoon the Spaniush wanted second place in theirs.

How could any adult football fan not see that?!?!

I dont think there was any chance of that game ending 5 or 6-2. Japan were organised and competitive. They weren't a side who could have conceded 6.

 

[MikeH72]

@TheBigIguana @Moomin Germany have joined the list of teams to win a game at this tournament.

 

[Nymzee]

There was no chance Spain could get knocked out. They lost and knew that with a loss they went through.

Duh!

But they literally were going out when Costa Rica were 2-1 up?

 

[davek]

Not if Costa Rica won vs Germany

And if it looked that way they'd have picked the pace up in their own game.

 

[davek]

But they literally were going out when Costa Rica were 2-1 up?

They had 20 minutes to get an equaliser.

Once Germany sorted that situation out there was about 20 minutes left with time added on thrown in.


The Spanish management had that all under control at all times.

 

[carolinablue232]

Ha ha ha ha - completely naive.

You dont know how the world works, apparently.

Back to not answering questions because you can’t. Just like when asked about who these top teams are that will be after Roberto. Take the tinfoil hat off for a minute.

 

[matty1878]

If you were able to look at it from directly above you would see a part of the ball is over the line, thus the correct decision was made

i dont agree

 

[davek]

Back to not answering questions because you can’t. Just like when asked about who these top teams are that will be after Roberto. Take the tinfoil hat off for a minute.

?‍

No idea what you're talking about here.

 

[LinekersLegs]

And if it looked that way they'd have picked the pace up in their own game.

We’ll never know whether Spain had extra gears they could have used in that game - fwiw Japan looked pretty solid defensively to me,

However your statement that there was no chance of Spain going out is incorrect.

 

[carolinablue232]

Only France can beat Spain. England and Portugal? Are you having a laugh? FFS!

Then why would they be afraid of Croatia as you’re suggesting they were you lunatic?

 

[TheBigIguana]

Eh? Spain won all three of those tournaments. Big difference is they had a much better team then. And also today, barring about one minute this result suited them

That's my point. They won because the backline was a backline and they had a striker to win tight games. The lesson they took seems to be play 11 midfielders and pass 7000 times. They need a Pique and a Villa.