CORDOBA, Spain -- Considering Spain recently beat France, Japan's 1-0 loss Wednesday in Cordoba can be considered a reasonable result. Some people out there will think Japan was unlucky not to get the draw as Spain scored in injury time, but in footballing terms, Spain deserved to win.
Japan worked hard for the 0-0 draw and with almost no attack whatsoever, that's the most they could have expected. This performance was a direct result of the 5-0 defeat in France, where the team was loose and unrealistic to the task facing it. Against Spain, they were absolutely realistic to the task.
They started the game much, much better than against France, the pitch was better and the small stadium more like those in Japan, so everything was better suited to the Japanese team.