One of the most highly anticipated matches of the entire group stage, two European powerhouses collide this Sunday November 26th in the Al Bayt Stadium when the formidable Spanish national side take on a German team that finds itself in grave peril.
In the first round of the group stage, Germany faced off against a Japanese side that simply refused to let themselves be intimidated by a German side that seemed to be beyond their powers on paper.
While Germany started off ahead thanks to a 33-minute Gondogan penalty, Japan took things to the next level, practically transforming into an anime version themselves and putting on an absolutely electric display to turn the score around and produce a historic victory.
While the Germans will certainly be disappointed with the result, theirs was not a lifeless display like the ones they put in during Russia 2018, but rather a bad case of not finishibetng the chances they created. Had they been more clinical in front of goal, there’s no reason they could not have ended up with a very comfortable lead rather than up against the ropes of elimination.
Unlike their German opponents, Spain definitely did not waste the chances they created when they faced off against the humble Centralamerican side of Costa Rica.
Costa Rica’s hope to equal Japan’s feat and produce another upset of a European giant were dealt a fatal blow as early as the 11th minute, when Dani Olmos slipped past the defense to score the first. 20 minutes later, they had picked up 2 more balls from inside their goal.
By the end of the match, that number had grown to a scandalous 7 goals, with Costa Rica not even boasting a single shot on target to their name. Simply put, it was an absolute massacre.
While Spain certainly looked effervescent throughout the entire match and was shown to have been clinical in front of goal, Costa Rica’s display was so lifeless and full of embarrassing errors, that it is hard to really grasp just how much of the scoreline was due to Spain’s brilliance versus Costa Rica’s ineptitude.
While on paper one would not be faulted for thinking Spain is the clear favorite to come out ahead - even the bookies think so at odds of 2.4 at ComeOn - this game will definitely not be a walk in the park for the Spaniards.
With Germany playing for their World Cup lives in this match - a win will all but eliminate them from the competition - you can expect them to give it their all in order to avoid an embarrassing 2nd consecutive WC group stage crash.
While this is a very difficult match to predict, given how many opportunities both teams created during their previous games, there could definitely be plenty of value in the over 2.5 goals at 1.75 at Betsson.
