A 35th minute strike off the boot of Hirving Lozano gave Mexico a famous 1-0 victory over reigning World Champions, Germany in group F of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Following the shocking loss Real Madrid midfielder, Toni Kroos has admitted that the current World Champions were outplayed and had no solution to the Mexicans set up. “We had no solution to their play in the first half. They set up cleverly and gave us space where it suited them.”
“In the second half we improved, Mexico got tired, there was more space but we couldn’t score. We had enough chances for at least one. Now we’re under pressure, no doubt. We have to get six points,” the German midfielder added.
For Joachim Löw, it’s the first time Germany have lost a World Cup opening match with him on the bench and the German coach admits that it is an unfamiliar situation for his team.
“We’re obviously disappointed that we lost the game. It’s unfamiliar territory for us to lose the first game. We need to take that in our stride, there’s still a long way to go.”
The last time Germany lost a World Cup opener was 36 years ago when they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Algeria. The reigning champions will now have to dig deep to secure victory against Sweden on Saturday night to keep their World Cup title defence alive.
