(Football news) Costa Rica put a major dent in Japan\’s hopes of reaching the World Cup last 16 as the island nation recovered from their hammering by Spain to claim a surprise 1-0 victory in Group E. Keysher Fuller\’s brilliant 81st-minute goal, which was subsequently Costa Rica\’s first shot on target stunned the Japanese fans in the stadium and left the group wide open. Japan\’s historic victory over Germany in their opening match coupled with Costa Rica\’s 7-0 drubbing by Spain cleared the way for Japan to reach the last 16 with a victory but they have to get a result against the mighty Spain.

Japan went into the match with a much changed line-up but failed to spark any real performance as their hopes of reaching the knockout stage for a fourth time are now left hanging in the balance. Costa Rica after the thrashing at the hands of Spain were completely written off before kickoff but are now level on three points with Japan and they too have a chance to reach the last 16. Apart from a two-minute burst at the start of the game by Japan, the rest of the first half was played at snail\’s pace.

For Costa Rica the lack of goalmouth action was probably the best result seeing as they conceded four times in the opening half against Spain. In the second half, Japan\’s coach Hajime Moriyasu took off defender Yuto Nagatomo and replaced him with Takuma Asano who was left on the bench despite scoring the winner against Germany. Immediately after the change Japan looked more threatening with Hidemasa Morita testing Keylor Navas with a stinging shot but the 4 time Champions League winner turned it away. Japan began to control the match and Moriyasu made another change with Brighton midfielder Kaoru Mitoma coming on for right back Miki Yamane. It seemed only a matter of time before the Japanese pressure would pay off but in a rare break, Fuller curled a wicked shot which keeper Shuichi Gonda could not keep out.

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