Spain coach Luis Enrique blamed five minutes of “total loss of control” for his team’s shock 2-1 defeat by Japan on Thursday, which saw them qualify for the World Cup last 16 second from Group E.

La Roja, among the favourites to win the tournament, would have been eliminated if Costa Rica had held on to beat Germany, although Los Ticos eventually fell to a 4-2 defeat.

Alvaro Morata sent Spain in front early on but two strikes in four minutes from Japan at the start of the second half turned the game on its head.

“(It was) five minutes of total lack of control, of panic, even,” said Luis Enrique.

“They scored two goals against us, and if they had needed to score two more, then they would have scored them too, I’m sure.

“This is a World Cup and when a team like Japan does not have anything to lose, well, they decide to risk it all and flew past us like they were aeroplanes.

Click here for full story

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.