Football News : Impressive Spain put seven past Costa Rica in World Cup opener

With a 7-0 victory over Costa Rica in their opening 2022 World Cup encounter on Wednesday night, Spain has risen to the top of Group E. La Roja, who defeated Costa Rica with ease, has supplanted Japan as the group's best team.

Japan shocked Germany in the opening match of the group with a 2-1 victory to take to the top spot. In a commanding display, Ferran Torres scored twice, and the 2010 world champions also had goals from Dani Olmo, Marco Asensio, Gavi, Carlos Soler, and Alvaro Morata.

On Sunday, Luis Enrique's team will play a wounded Germany to resume their Group E campaign, while Costa Rica will be looking to avenge their defeat to Japan the same day.

In the fifth minute, Olmo connected with a long cross from Pedri and Spain had a golden opportunity to score, but the attacker volleyed just wide of the far post.

The Real Madrid forward, who started as a centre-forward, was then set up by Pedri in the eighth minute, and with La Roja controlling play at the time, Asensio narrowly missed the far post.

in the 11th minute, Olmo received a feed from Gavi, turned, and produced a stunning finish over Keylor Navas, who was closing in.

In the 21st minute, Asensio extended Spain's advantage by sweeping in a low Jordi Alba cross. Despite getting a hand on the ball, Navas was powerless to stop it.

In the 29th minute of play, Alba was knocked to the ground by Oscar Duarte, who could not help but challenge the Barcelona defender, earning Enrique's team a penalty.

The guy who stepped up was Torres, who made it 3-0 by sending Navas the wrong way from the penalty spot. Before the first half was up, Costa Rica had lost the game.

Asensio, who once again broke into a dangerous position, had Spain's final chance of the opening frame, but Duarte did just enough to stop the attacker, leaving the score at 3-0 at the break.

In the opening moments of the second half, Asensio missed Costa Rica's crossbar with a shot, but in the 54th minute, Torres finished beneath Navas after some shaky defending by Los Ticos. This gave Spain a four-goal lead.

In the period that followed, both coaches made adjustments, with Enrique conserving his star players for the Germany encounter and Costa Rica's focus shifting to their upcoming match with Japan.

The fifth goal came in the 74th minute when Gavi skillfully volleyed a Morata cross into the bottom corner. Morata, one of those substitutes, had previously shot wide of the Costa Rica goal in the 64th minute.

Five then became sixth in the final exchanges when Soler fired past Navas from close range, before Morata made it 7-0 with a clever finish after combining with Olmo.

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