Spain’s 7-0 dismantling of Costa Rica was their first World Cup victory since 2006, and coach Luis Enrique got off to the ideal start in what appeared to be a difficult Group E.
Spain scored their 100th World Cup goal just 11 minutes into the match when Dani Olmo completed a play that had been begun by Pedri.
Asensio slid the ball past an injured Keylor Navas for Los Ticos, and then Ferran Torres buried his penalty to cap off an utterly lopsided first half for Enrique’s team.
Continuous pressure in the second half paid off once more as Torres added to the anguish of the Central Americans by grabbing his brace from six yards out following confusion in the box.
With 20 of his 26-man squad making their first World Cup appearances, Enrique may have seen this tournament as an opportunity to usher in a new era of Spanish football. As Gavi made it five with a sumptuous volley, you could feel Spanish confidence reverberating throughout the stadium.
The Barcelona player’s accomplishment of being the youngest goal scorer in this tournament since Pele in 1958 didn’t get overshadowed by his midfield colleague Pedri’s great performance.
Substitutes
In a tortuous eight minutes of added time, Carlos Soler and lvaro Morata added the icing on top of a fine effort for the helpless Los Ticos, extending their winless World Cup streak to seven.
In the opening match of Group E, Japan stunned Germany by defeating them 2-1.
In their World Cup Group E opener on Wednesday, Japan stunned Germany by coming from behind to win 2-1.
At the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, midfielder Ilkay Gundogan gave Germany the lead with a penalty on the 33rd minute, while forward Kai Havertz had the ball in the net just before halftime but the goal was disallowed for
With goals from Takuma Asano and attacker Ritsu Doan in the closing 15 minutes, Japan overcame Germany to win for the first time ever and pull off an early tournament surprise.
The shocking outcome was a rerun of their World Cup misery from last year, when they fell to Mexico in their opening match as defending champions and, after another loss to South Korea, were doomed to an unexpected group-stage elimination.
When posing for their pregame team photo, the Germany players covered their mouths, and interior minister Nancy Faeser sat next to FIFA president Gianni Infantino while sporting the “OneLove” armband as FIFA’s threat of punishment over the protest persisted.
Early on, Hansi Flick’s team had the upper hand. They were rewarded when Joshua Kimmich found David Raum in the box with plenty of space, and goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda clumsily brought him down as he turned. In the 33rd minute, Gundogan converted the resulting penalty.
The second half started out with little deviation from the norm as Gundogan clipped a post and Jamal Musiala fired wide following a dangerous move.
