Best Reaction to Spain's Loss vs. Japan in 2023 Women's World Cup

Fans of the Spanish national team must be suffering from a serious case of deja vu.

Spain's women's team was beaten by Japan at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in the same exact fashion its men's team was in Qatar six months ago at the men's World Cup.

Japan crushed Spain with its counter-attacking play to come away with a 4-0 win and first place in Group C.

Japan sealed Spain's second-place fate in Group C before halftime. Hinata Miyazawa scored in the 12th and 40th minutes and Riko Ueki found the back of the net in the 29th minute. Mina Tanaka finished off the scoring in the 80th minute.

Japan only made three touches inside Spain's penalty area in the first half, all of which were finished off by goals.

The end-of-match numbers did not paint a pretty picture for La Roja either.

Spain's tournament is not over, but it goes into the round-of-16 clash against Switzerland with no momentum from its group-stage finale. A case could be made Switzerland is the easier of the two opponents it could have faced coming out of Group C.

The winner of the all-European clash could face the United States women's national team in the quarterfinals. The USWNT would set up that possibility with a win over Portugal on Tuesday morning.