Costa Rica’s Keysher Fuller scored in the 81st minute to give his team a 1-0 victory over favored Japan on Sunday in World Cup play at Al Rayyan, Qatar. The loss denied Japan a chance to move straight to the knockout stage.
Fuller’s score came on Costa Rica’s first shot on target in the match.
Costa Rica, which lost to Spain 7-0 in its Group E opener, now has an improbable chance to advance. With two matches down, Costa Rica and Japan have three points each. Spain also has three points and will meet Germany, which lost its opener to Japan, later Sunday.
Japan controlled the ball 57 percent of the match and had three shots on goal, all stopped by Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas. The Japanese also couldn’t take advantage of five corner kick opportunities.
Morocco 2, Belgium 0
Abdelhamid Sabiri scored in the 73rd minute and fellow substitute Zakaria Aboukhlal also tallied in second-half stoppage time to lift Morocco to victory in its Group F match.
Sabiri opened the scoring after curling in a free kick from near the corner flag that surprised Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (two saves).
Aboukhlal provided insurance with a goal on the counterattack and Munir El-Kajoui made three saves for Morocco, which has four points — one more than Belgium.
The Belgians were unable to take advantage of any of their nine corner kicks.
–Field Level Media
