An explosive half-century by Andre Russell paved the way for victory in a tense high-scoring game at the iconic venue
Costa Rica put a huge dent in Japan's hopes of reaching the World Cup last 16 as they recovered from their hammering by Spain to claim a surprise 1-0 victory in Group E on Sunday.
Keysher Fuller's 81st-minute effort, Costa Rica's first shot on target in a dreary game, stunned the drum-beating Japanese fans in the stadium and left the group wide open.
Japan's historic victory over Germany in their opener coupled with Costa Rica's 7-0 drubbing by Spain cleared the way for Japan to reach the last 16 with a game to spare.
But a much-changed line-up failed to spark and their hopes of reaching the knockout stage for a fourth time are now left hanging in the balance with their final game against Spain.
Costa Rica, written off before kickoff, are now level on three points with Japan and have a chance to reach the last 16.
A first-half of mind-numbing tedium even tested the patience of the drum-banging Japanese fans massed in their blue shirts at one end of the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.
Apart from a two-minute burst at the start of the game by Japan, the rest of the opening half was played at snail's pace.
For Costa Rica the lack of goalmouth action was probably most welcome seeing as they conceded three times in the opening half an hour against Spain.
Both goalkeepers were redundant and the only incidents that could pass as goalmouth action was a cross by Japan's Ritsu Doan that flashed across the goal and a scooped shot high over the crossbar by Costa Rica forward Joel Campbell.
Japan's coach Hajime Moriyasu took off defender Yuto Nagatomo at halftime and replaced him with attacker Takuma Asano who was surprisingly left on the bench despite scoring the winner against Germany.
ALSO READ:
Immediately after the break Japan looked more threatening with Hidemasa Morita finally testing Keylor Navas with a stinging drive the Costa Rica keeper turned away.
Kicking towards their fans, Japan began to seize control and Moriyasu made another attacking change with midfielder Kaoru Mitoma coming on for right back Miki Yamane.
Japan were camped in Costa Rica's half but and it seemed only a matter of time before their pressure would pay off but in a rare break, Japan failed to clear and Fuller curled a shot which keeper Shuichi Gonda could not keep out.
An explosive half-century by Andre Russell paved the way for victory in a tense high-scoring game at the iconic venue
With MS Dhoni set to play his last IPL tournament, BCCI have announced MA Chidambaram Stadium as a tentative venue
Fukumoto predicts another ‘big’ night for Japanese-trained horses at Saturday’s $30.5 million Dubai World Cup meeting
Curran, Livingstone lead the Kings to well-earned four-wicket win in Mullanpur
The Indian superstar has been a regular attendee to the team's matches at Kolkata since 2008
The Ferrari star was quickest in the first two parts of qualifying but Verstappen bounced back in the top 10 shootout to take pole
The wicketkeeoer-batsman says that his team will try to put pressure on the opposition throughout a match
The attacking all-rounder has been growing in confidence since his ground-breaking season during CSK's title triumph in IPL 2023