World Cup: Germany loses, Brazil ties
Defending World Cup champions have been finding it hard to get out of the group stage lately, and Germany is proving no exception.
The 2014 champions, ranked No. 1 in the world, were exposed defensively and surprisingly beaten by Mexico 1-0 in Moscow on Sunday, putting its hopes of advancement in doubt.
Well, not everyone is in doubt.
“We will make it,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said. “There’s no reason to fall apart because you lose one game.”
Hirving Lozano scored the lone goal in the 35th minute, picking up Javier Hernandez’s pass inside the penalty area and beating Mesut Ozil before shooting past Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from 10 yards.
The goal decided the match — a match Germany didn’t expect to lose.
“I don’t know if it’s the biggest victory in (Mexico’s) history, but one of the biggest for sure,” Lozano said. “My teammates and I did some great work. We all ran our hearts out. This is the result of all that hard work.”
Three of the previous four defending World Cup champions failed to reach the knockout stages, France, Italy and Spain. Two of them lost their opening matches while the Italians had to settle for a draw.
The Germans are bidding to become the first team to retain the World Cup title since Brazil in 1962, but have now won only one of their last seven games in all competitions. They hadn’t lost an opening game since the then-West Germany fell 2-1 to Algeria in 1982.
Mexico had never beaten Germany in a competitive match but was transformed from the team which lost to the Germans 4-1 in last year’s Confederations Cup, conceding twice in the opening eight minutes.
“We were nervous and we weren’t playing the game we wanted to play,” Loew said. “We need to see what caused this.”
BRAZIL 1, SWITZERLAND 1
Brazil joined the list of big teams struggling to win their opening matches at the World Cup in Russia.
The five-time champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Switzerland in Rostov-onDon, Russia a few hours after four-time champion Germany was beaten by Mexico.
Philippe Coutinho gave Brazil the lead in the 20th minute with a volley that bounced in off the right post. Steven Zuber then headed in the equalizer in the 50th. Mexican referee Cesar Ramos dismissed complaints that Zuber had shoved defender Miranda before getting to the corner from Xherdan Shaqiri.
“I was pushed out of the way. There is video of what happened and the referee could have seen it. But it didn’t happen,” Miranda said. “We got a draw but this is only the beginning for us. We knew this game wasn’t going to be easy.”
Ramos also ignored a penalty claim late in the second half when Gabriel Jesus was wrestled to the ground by Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji.
Switzerland’s players dominated the midfield for long spells against a Brazil team that lost its previous World Cup match 7-1 to Germany in the 2014 semifinals.
Since taking charge in 2016, however, Brazil coach Tite has only lost once in 22 games.
SERBIA 1, COSTA RICA 0
Aleksandar Kolarov scored from a left-footed free kick in the 56th minute and Serbia opened its World Cup with a victory over Costa Rica in Samara, Russia.
After David Guzman was handed a yellow card, Kolarov curled the ensuing free kick over the wall. Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who plays for Real Madrid, couldn’t reach it.