The sun was finally setting in Moscow at the end of a long day for Joachim Löw when he was reminded that three of the past four defending champions at World Cup finals have been eliminated in the first round, and suddenly a sense of resolution returned to him.
“We will not suffer the same fate,” he said, unsure whether the question was serious or not. “We will go to the next round.”
It is, nonetheless, a strange theme of recent years, encompassing Spain in 2014, Italy in 2010 and France in 2002, all of them witnessing the end of great eras at a Word Cup finals. The humiliating confirmation that, yes, those intervening four years did see legs get heavier, factions grow deeper, the decline become steeper.
These are early days yet and Löw was talking like a man who finds himself unexpectedly pulled over at the side of the autobahn wondering just what could possibly have gone wrong with his expensive piece of German engineering. He took solace in an improved second half, in 61 per cent possession, in all the things that should add up to success and yet he knew that Mexico had been the fresh new force sticking it to the old regime.
One of the great achievements of Juan Carlos Osorio, Mexico’s Colombian coach who graduated from Liverpool John Moores University, is that he made the world champions look like England on a bad day. England in the European Championship of 2016, or at the previous two World Cup finals when they were often wide open at the back, guileless in attack, and finally reliant on pumping the ball into the area to try to get a goal.
Mexico stunned the holders, handing Germany their first defeat in an opening game for the first time since 1982 thanks to a goal from Hirving Lozano
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Germany vs Mexico: Live Updates, Score and Reaction from 2018 World Cup Game
Germany (National Football) vs Mexico (National Football)
Moscow
Defending World Cup champions Germany take on Chicharito's Mexico in the opening game of Group F. El Tri's first game at Russia 2018 will take place at the Luzhniki Stadium, Russia's national stadium in Moscow.
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The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia has its first absolute stunner. Mexico, behind a first-half goal from Hirving Lozano, upset reigning champs Germany in the group stage opener, 1-0. In a tense, hectic match that would make anybody shake from the nerves, El Tri bent but did not break in the second half, withstanding chance after chance from the European giants for arguably its greatest World Cup victory ever.
Lozano, on the counter, was the hero on the day in attack, beating Manuel Neuer with this effort:
The youngster puts it away!
Chicharito starts the counterattack and Chucky Lozano finishes it to give Mexico the 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/Ze5IUJuE3d — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 17, 2018
A massive, world-shaking goal that Lozano said after the match was the most important of his young, sparkling career. After the match, Lozano put all the praise on his coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
"He told us to keep playing like we were playing. To come out 100 percent ... He saw the game well," Lozano said in the post-match press conference.
"To start off on the right foot against the best team in the world, it's a huge result and great work from the team."
Guillermo Ochoa was huge in goal for El Tri as well, making save after save to keep the mighty Germans out. Germany had 60 percent of the possession, 25 shots, nine on target, yet couldn't crack El Tri's defense.
The win gives Mexico three points and puts them in a golden spot to move on, while Germany now can't afford another slip up with South Korea and Sweden to come.
Relive match commentary from Sunday's Germany vs. Mexico match
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