FIFA World Cup: 'Spain lost to Japan to avoid Brazil in quarters,' suggests Real Madrid legend Hugo Sanchez

Spain tanked their final Group E game against Japan in order to avoid Brazil in the quarter-finals, suggested Mexico and Real Madrid great Hugo Sanchez on Friday.

Spain lost 1-2 to the Asian giants after taking the lead early in the first half as Japan dramatically scored twice in three minutes at the beginning of the second half.

If Spain finished top of the group with a win or a draw, they would have faced Croatia in the Round of 16 and would have been on a collision course with Brazil in the quarters, who would face either Uruguay, Ghana or South Korea in the last 16.

Spain will now face Morocco and are likely to face their Iberian neighbours Portugal in the quarters.

In the Group E game, Japan’s opening goal, by substitute Ritsu Doan at the 48th-minute mark, saw Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon palmed a weak-appearing shot into the goal while the second goal came right after in the 51st minute by Ao Tanaka in what was back-to-back counter-attacks.

Speaking during a post-match show for ESPN, the 64-year-old retired striker felt Spain’s coach Luis Enrique must have thought what’s the best way to avoid Brazil when asked if La Roja lost on purpose.

“‘I assure you. I was not there and I’m not in the mind of Luis Enrique but he had thought about what was the best way to avoid playing Brazil in the quarter-finals. Yes, there is a risk but it’s a risk worth taking. It’s not that they fear Brazil but they respect them,” Sanchez said.

When fellow pundits raised eyebrows to Sanchez’s suggestion, the Mexican said Luis Enrique will never admit that they let Japan win.

Spain’s defender Cesar Azpilicueta, who was substituted during half-time, rubbished Sanchez’s suggestion saying they never play to lose a game.

“I was aware in the second half (of the Germany score); I was on the bench so I was aware of the situation," the Chelsea right-back said after the game. “If they look at our group the last couple of years we always give everything and we go out of the pitch to win every game, to press every ball.

“We have been punished from just scoring a goal and then conceding straight away so that’s the way we play. We are the first disappointed to not win the game so you can see what happened. It was difficult because it is something that you cannot control, the other game, so the only thing we could do was to try to give confidence and to help our team-mates to win our game. We knew that a draw or a win we would qualify. That’s the only thing we could control.”

Spain coach Enrique was earlier asked before the match if they would like to lose to Japan in order to ensure the second spot, Enrique said he won’t risk it if Costa Rica and Japan both won their games. Costa Rica eventually lost 2-4 to Germany, who also exited the World Cup.

“We have asked ourselves that question but from a professional point of view you can imagine it being 0-0 in both games on minute 95 and Japan score and Costa Rica score and we’re out,” he said.

The game had further controversy as well as Tanaka’s winning goal appeared to have gone out for a goal kick before VAR check revealed the ball was still in play before Kaoru Mitoma squared the ball to Tanaka in front of the goal.

Japan’s second goal in their 2-1 win over Spain was checked by VAR to determine if the ball had gone out of play.

The video match officials used the goal line camera images to check if the ball was still partially on the line or not. pic.twitter.com/RhN8meei6Q

— FIFA (@FIFAcom) December 2, 2022

“I have seen a photo that must have been tampered with. It cannot be that this photo is real. It has to be manipulated,” said Enrique in disbelief..

“I felt that something fishy was going on when the VAR took as much time as it did to decide… I have nothing to say.”

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