The President of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, denied rumors that his country's national team deliberately defeated Japan 2-1 at the end of the group stage in order not to take the lead in order to avoid facing Brazil in the quarter-finals, in addition to eliminating rivals Germany.

Spain ranked second in Group E with 4 points, outperforming Germany, which left the tournament early on goal difference, while Japan topped with 6 points in a resounding surprise in Qatar.

And this arrangement prompted Spain to face Morocco in the round of 16, and if it wins, it will meet Portugal or Switzerland, and it will not face Brazil except in the final if the two teams continue in the tournament.

But the lead would have transferred Spain to the side of the draw, which includes Brazil, Argentina and Croatia.

Fans and analysts - including Hugo Sanchez, one of Real Madrid's historic goalscorers - believed that the defeat from Japan was deliberate, although Spain was threatened with exclusion within minutes of the match due to the result of the other meeting in the group between Germany and Costa Rica at the same time.

Mexican Sanchez told ESPN, “I confirm that (Spain coach) Luis Enrique thought of a way to avoid Brazil in the quarter-finals, it is a dangerous confrontation, but he will never admit it, no coach will say that he did not want to win.” ".

Luis Rubiales - President of the Spanish Confederation via the #Al-Kass_Channel_Council: We were hoping to end the group stage at the top of the group, but a surprise happened to us by occupying second place behind Japan #World_Cup_Qatar_2022 |

#FIFAWorldCup |

# Qatar2022 # World Cup # Qatar 2022 pic.twitter.com/11Jq0DrpWL

- Al-Kass channels (@alkasschannel) December 2, 2022

But Rubiales responded to these speculations in the negative, and said in an interview with the Qatari Al-Kass Network, "I never think so. I know the coaching staff very well. We fought for the lead, but this was not possible. In football, there is no room for calculations or mathematics. We think about "Every match is on its own and we will face a really difficult team in the round of 16, which is Morocco, who play almost at home because of the huge support of the fans in Qatar. Morocco is a European-class team, we know many of its players in Spain, they are very strong, they will make things difficult for us."

He added, "The Japan match was frustrating, but it is a lesson that must be learned from it. The tournament is full of surprises, and this is what makes it very special. When you lose your focus for 5 minutes, you can lose."

It is noteworthy that more than one player in Spain defended the team, including midfielder Pedri.

"We were out of the tournament for 10 or 12 minutes because we saw the result of the other match on the screens," said the young Barcelona player, although Luis Enrique confirmed that he did not know that his team was in danger of being out for a few minutes before Germany advanced and then won 4-2 against Costa Rica.

Pedri added, "We did not think about any future confrontations, we tried to equalize to avoid any problem and to finish top of the group, but we were unable to do so."