Germany heads to knock-out round at World Cup, but plenty of questions remain
· Yahoo Sports
For Germany, all is right in the World (Cup).
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At least for now.
After back-to-back disasters on soccer’s biggest stage, the German national team is back in the knock-out round at the World Cup for the first time since winning it all in Brazil in 2014.
The good news is that Julian Nagelsmann’s squad did exactly what was needed through the first two games to win Group E and make Thursday’s game vs. Ecuador here at the Meadowlands largely an afterthought.
For those scoring at home, though, a desperate Ecuador squad eked out a 2-1 win before a sellout at the stadium temporarily known as “New York New Jersey Stadium” to also advance to the Round of 32.
The Germans handled business against tiny Curacao in the opener, 7-1. Then delivered a throwback performance Saturday in Toronto for a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast thanks to a pair of goals from second half sub Deniz Undav.
The team showed the competitive spirit that the great German teams of the past have always had: The idea that Die Mannschaft will simply find a way to win in the end.
As a result, Germany already knows they will be heading to Foxborough, Mass., for a Round of 32 game against a third-place finisher on Monday on three days’ rest.
But Germany hasn’t proven anything yet. And now Nagelsmann has to figure out a way to replace a key defender — the biggest area of concern for the team heading into this North American World Cup — after Nico Schlotterbeck suffered an ankle injury against the Ivory Coast and has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament.
“We will sorely miss Schlotti on the field as an outstanding defender, especially also his brilliant ability to build up play from the back,” Nagelsmann said earlier in the week.
Nathaniel Brown, another starting defender, missed Thursday’s game at the Meadowlands with a groin injury, but this move was seen as largely a precautionary one.
Can the defense — anchored by 40-year-old goalkeeper Manuel Neuer — handle the offensive prowess of the top teams when this tournament starts to get serious? That’s the big question.
Germany hasn’t kept a clean sheet at a World Cup since beating Argentina in the 2014 Final at the famed Maracana Stadium in Rio.
And it only took nine minutes against Ecuador for that streak to stretch to eight games as Nilson Angulo beat a diving Neuer for his goal-challenged team’s opening tally of this World Cup.
Things got messy again on defense for Germany after the second-half ad-driven hydration break when Neuer and Jonathan Tah crossed signals but Gonzalo Plata couldn’t take advantage of the wide-open opportunity at the net front. But five minutes later, Plata didn’t miss his second golden chance and toe-poked one into the back of the German goal.
Yes, Nagelsmann’s team has featured a balanced attack — seven goal scorers to date, delighting the German fans with Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom,” on repeat in the stadiums — but expecting to win a bunch of high-scoring affairs seems unrealistic.
“Have they got that something special?” Fox Sports broadcaster Ian Darke asked during the broadcast when talking about a long summer run for the Germans.
For the four-time World champs semifinals or bust used to be the norm. But then came Russia 2018 when they finished last in Group F — the worst result in the modern history of the German national team — after losing games to Mexico and South Korea. Things didn’t get any better four years later in Qatar. Germany could not recover from an opening game loss to Japan and staggered home after a third-place finish in Group E.
“Qatar was anything but successful for us as a team and for me personally,” forward Kai Havertz told The Guardian this week.“There’s a different energy in our squad now. I was quickly convinced that things would go better this year. We knew we had a duty not to fail early on again. We are Germany. But now the tournament is really just beginning.”
But Havertz feels like the spark is back with the national team
“We radiate a real joy in playing,” said, per The Guardian. “We move a lot, play offensively and create scoring chances. And we bounce back after conceding goals.”
Can they bounce back once the level of competition throws them up against the world’s top teams after a group stage that didn’t feature an opponent ranked higher than Ecuador at No. 28?
Stay tuned.
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