World Cup rewind: What exactly were Germany doing?
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What is it with defending World Cup champions? Three of the past four have failed to progress from the group stage in the following tournament, and Germany may make it four out of five after an opening-match loss to Mexico.
With games against Sweden and South Korea to come, Die Mannschaft are certainly still expected to go through, but there were some serious problems with their performance on Sunday, when they were ripped apart by Mexico in transition.
Neither Toni Kroos nor Sami Khedira was operating as a defensive midfielder, and with Joshua Kimmich and Marvin Plattenhardt eager to join the attack, center-backs Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels were exposed.
Joachim Low remains confident his side will go through — “We will make it to the next round,” he said in the post-match press conference — but El Tri provided Sweden and South Korea with a blue print for victory.
Sunday also saw another one of the pre-tournament favorites begin their campaign, as Brazil took on Switzerland in Rostov. The selecao showed flashes of their quality in attack, but slowed after halftime, and conceded a controversial equalizer scored by Steven Zuber.
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Switzerland’s tactics seemed largely to be focused on fouling Neymar. They did so 10 times in total, meaning more than 50 percent of their 19 fouls were on the Paris Saint-Germain forward. Good thing Philippe Coutinho was able to pick up the slack.
The first match of the day saw the USMNT’s one-time CONCACAF rivals Costa Rica take on Serbia. The match wasn’t particularly exciting, but Aleksandar Kolararov won it with a wonderful free-kick, and there was a bona fide fracas at the final whistle to keep fans engaged.
Monday’s slate of matches begins in Nizhny Novgorod, where Sweden face South Korea at 8 a.m. ET. That’s followed by the first two matches from Group G, Belgium vs. Panama (11 a.m. ET) and Tunisia vs. England (2 p.m. ET).