The Germany national team and Jonas Hofmann missed out on making the last 16 of the World Cup despite a 4-2 win in their final group game against Costa Rica, because Japan and Ko Itakura managed to win 2-1 against Spain at the same time and with that result secured top spot in the group.
The final matchday of the group stage in Group E developed into an absolute thriller. The order of the four teams in the group changed over and over again at various points in the two games between Germany and Costa Rica as well as Japan and Spain. The end result for Germany and Jonas Hofmann was a 4-2 win over Costa Rica. The goals for Hansi Flick’s side were scored by Serge Gnabry (10’), Kai Havertz (72’, 85’) and Niclas Füllkrug (90+1’).
Ko Itakura (photo: imago images/ANP) started for Japan and played the full 90 minutes. Because Japan managed to turn around a 1-0 deficit against Spain with goals from Ritsu Doan (48’) und Ao Tanaka (51’), the “Samurai Blue” succeeded in winning the group with 6 points, putting them into the last 16. Itakura will be suspended for this game, however, having received his second yellow card of the tournament in the game yesterday.
Spain finished second in the group with 4 points. As a result, both Germany (4 points) and Costa Rica (3 points) have already been knocked out of the tournament. Borussia midfielder Jonas Hofmann watched the whole game from the bench. Itakura and Japan meet Croatia in their last 16 game this coming Monday (16:00 CET).
The last Borussia players hoping to progress to the last 16 in the shape of Yann Sommer and Nico Elvedi play for Switzerland this evening. They meet Serbia in the last game of Group G. Ahead of the game, Switzerland have three points and sit second in the group behind Brazil (6 points). The other teams in the group are Cameroon with three points and Serbia with four.
