Germany Hirving a bad start!
GERMANY boss Joachim Low admits his side played ‘very badly’ as they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Mexico in their opening match.
And on a day of shocks, fellow favourites Brazil where held to a 1-1 draw by Switzerland.
Man of the match Hirving Lozano scored the only goal of the Germany game when he finished a Mexican break by drilling a low shot past Manuel Neuer but, in truth, this was a breathtaking team performance.
Germany, on the other hand, took too long to get going and lacked the poise the rest of the world has grown accustomed to seeing from them.
Their last defeat in a first game of the World Cup was to Algeria in 1982, and since then they had averaged three-and-a-half goals.
“We played very badly in the first half and were not able to impose ourselves,” said Low.
Looking like a man who was still not quite sure what he had just witnessed, Low described his side’s opening 45 minutes as ‘haphazard’, ‘ineffective’, ‘negligent’ and ‘nervous’.
He admitted that his defenders struggled to cope with Mexico’s speed on the break but the real problem was the sloppiness of their attack.
Brazil looked to be on course for victory when Philippe Coutinho curled home a stunning opener.
But Steven Zuber earned the Swiss a point with a bullet header five minutes after the break, with the South Americans appealing in vain for a push on defender Miranda.
Meanwhile, former City defender Aleksandar Kolarov scored a screaming free-kick as Serbia saw off Costa Rica 1-0.
Kolarov, who now plays for Roma, said: “The free-kick came in a difficult moment in the match and I knew I could step up and change things, and that’s exactly what I did.”
Coach Mladen Krstajic was pleased with the mentality of his players, who were strong in possession and continually driven forward by the impressive Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, a target for United.
“My players had the right attitude and approach - unity,” said Krstajic. “We had to be a compact unit.”