There can be no debate about the identity of the player who has contributed the most to Germany’s World Cup campaign so far: Keysher Fuller, scorer of the goal that allowed Costa Rica to beat Japan and, for now at least, spare Germany’s blushes.
For four days, Germany has been staring down the barrel of a second straight humiliation at this tournament. Under Joachim Löw, it was eliminated after the group stage in 2018 as reigning champion. Losing to Japan in its opening game here meant that his former assistant, and now his successor, Hansi Flick, seemed destined to suffer the same fate: Germany’s second game was against an imperious Spain, and defeat would leave it with scant, if any, hope of surviving into the tournament’s second week.