It was an absolute roller-coaster of emotions over the course of 90 minutes in both games in Group F tonight. At one moment in the second half, the two favourites to advance in this group — Spain and Germany — were on the brink of elimination. Costa Rica were leading Germany 2 - 1; while Spain were down 2 - 1 to Japan.

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That combination of scorelines had Japan and Costa Rica advancing. As it unfolded, Japan’s 2 - 1 lead vs Spain stood until the end; while Germany were able to overturn their deficit and win 4 - 2.

Thus, the final standings look like this, and Germany — for the second consecutive World Cup — are out of the group stage:

This means that unexpectedly, Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger comes home early from the World Cup. Something the club will welcome, but the nation of Germany will surely lament.

Rudiger had a solid overall World Cup, but it should be noted he did have some lapses. After a good performance against Japan, he had two mistakes late. Tonight against Costa Rica, he was great on the ball and was a one-man defensive machine as Germany were chasing the game. But the German did have one mistake in the first half which nearly led to a goal conceded.

Rudiger also nearly scored in all three games: 1) He came close with a header vs Japan; 2) scored an offside goal vs Spain that was disallowed; 3) and hit the post today.

Rudiger had 97 touches, three clearances, and completed 92% of his passes against Costa Rica.