FIFA World Cup: Germany eliminated despite gripping victory over Costa Rica

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Germany and Costa Rica played out a six-goal thriller, but it wasn't enough for either side to keep their FIFA World Cup dream alive.

Germany failed to progress from their group for the second successive World Cup despite concluding Group E with an entertaining 4-2 win against Costa Rica.

The four-time winners, who were eliminated at the first hurdle as holders at Russia 2018, scored three times in the final 17 minutes to finally see off a Costa Rica side who held their own ambitions of progressing to the round of 16. 

However, Japan's win against Spain in the other game meant those two sides qualified at the expense of Germany.

Serge Gnabry's early header (10) appeared to have set Germany on the way to a comfortable three points, but second-half goals from Yeltsin Tejeda (58) and Juan Pablo Vargas (70) remarkably put Costa Rica in pole position to qualify for the last 16 and raised the incredible possibility of both Germany and Spain going out.

But the drama did not end there. Germany substitute and Chelsea forward Kai Havertz turned the game around again with a well-taken double (73 & 85) before fellow substitute Niclas Fullkrug made it 4-2 in the 89th minute. The victory was not enough though as the 2014 tournament winners finished third in Group E, with Spain and Japan above them.

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