Germany defeated Costa Rica in Al Bayt Stadium, but on a memorable night of drama, they were eliminated from the Fifa World Cup, thesportsbay.com reports.
Germany would have been eliminated regardless of Japan’s contentious 2-1 victory over Spain, but Hansi Flick’s team needed three points to give themselves any hope of making it to the round of 16.
The four-time champions finished third in the group and were eliminated based on goal differential, thus while they fulfilled their end of the contract, it was in vain.
The outcome might have been different had VAR not overturned the initial ruling that Japan’s winning goal in the other Group E match should have been allowed because the referees believed the ball had left the field before it was pushed into the goal.
Serge Gnabry’s early header (10) seemed to have given Germany a comfortable three points, but Yeltsin Tejeda’s goal (58) and a Manuel Neuer own goal (70) miraculously gave Costa Rica the lead and increased the unlikely possibility that both Germany and Spain would be eliminated.
The drama, however, did not finish there. Before another substitute, Niclas Fullkrug, made it 4-2 in the 89th minute, Germany’s Kai Havertz, a forward for Chelsea, turned the game around once more with two well-taken goals (in the 73rd and 85th minutes). Although they won, the tournament champions from 2014 came in third in Group E, behind Spain and Japan.
