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Day four of the Qatar World Cup saw another astonishing upset, more protests and the re-emergence of a footballing superpower.
Overnight results:
- Germany 1 – 2 Japan
- Morocco 0 – 0 Croatia
- Spain 7 – 0 Costa Rica
- Belgium 1 – 0 Canada.
Here are five talking points.
Discontent continues to simmer
Discontent with FIFA continued to simmer away beneath the surface of the football on day four.
Germany's mouth-covering at photo time before their game against Japan was the arguably strongest team gesture yet.
It was a response to FIFA's threats of yellow cards or suspensions for any team captain who wears the OneLove armband in protest against discrimination in the host nation.
They were strongly backed by their federation, which said: "It wasn't about making a political statement but human rights are non-negotiable."
It does make you wonder what anyone does with those team photos that are studiously taken before every match.
Meanwhile, Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wore one of the armbands while sitting next to FIFA head honcho Gianni Infantino in the stands.
Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib also wore one as she watched her team play Canada.
She said she had met with her Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, and "discussed the issue of human rights, particularly women's rights and rights of LBGTQIA+" people.
Spain is back, bebé
Spain have not been a bad side in the past few years, but it is hard not to judge them by their own recent history.
The glorious team of Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Gerard Piqué and Busquets won Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, with their mesmerising brand of tiki-taka get-the-ball-pass-the-ball football.
Now a new generation of stars has emerged and is threatening to build a new legacy for La Roja.
Pedri, Gavi, Dani Olmo and, well, Busquets, have brought razzle dazzle back to the Reds — and while criticism in the past has centred around their lack of end product, seven goals against Costa Rica will be giving the other top sides traumatic flashbacks.
Is there a new red reckoning coming?
Asian sides continue to rock the boat
After Saudi Arabia's extraordinary upset of Argentina on Wednesday, Japan took a leaf out of their book and did exactly the same thing to Germany.
Like the Saudis, Japan were trailing 1-0 at half time against a multiple-World-Cup-winning side, and not looking like causing any major dramas for their opponents.
However, the Blue Samurai completed the second smash-and-grab in as many days, scoring through Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano in the final 15 minutes, to send Germany's cup hopes into a tailspin.
The results are a boost for Asia, which has frankly underperformed at recent tournaments.
Now, if the Socceroos could just join the party.
This just in — Japanese people are courteous
In news that won't surprise anybody, Japanese fans have shown what lovely humans they are by tidying up the stadium after their team had tidied up Germany.
Well done, Japanese fans.
Costa Rica put their hands up for worst team in Qatar
I know I'm being a bit mean here, but c'mon. At least it makes you feel a bit better as an Australian fan that we only lost 4-1 to world champions France.
We'll reserve judgement as to which is the worst team in the tournament until the end of the group phase, but there are already some strong contenders.
Costa Rica were eviscerated 7-0 by Spain overnight, outdoing Iran in their 6-2 loss to England and hosts Qatar's dismal showing in their 2-0 loss to Ecuador.
All hope is not lost for these weaker sides, sometimes one of the big guns just gets on a roll and proves unstoppable.
Look at Saudi Arabia — who looked like they were going to get steamrolled by Argentina — after they conceded a goal and were saved three times by offside calls in the first half, only to turn it around and actually win the game in the second half.
Everyone raise an alcohol-free beer glass to the battlers!