Day’s 4 and 5 featured two matches from the 2018 FIFA World Cup’s Group F.
On Sunday, Mexico pulled of the unthinkable, blanking Germany in stunning fashion. The next day, Sweden and South Korea played in a match that paled in comparison than the one the day before.
Mexico v Germany
First Half
The start of the fisrt half was quite surprising in many different ways. For starters, Germany looked nervous on the pitch. Not only that, but to the surprise of many, Mexico got on the attack early on the firs half. Both teams showed nice ball movement despite not having a clear dominant team yet. El Tri generated scoring chances playing wide coming from the touchline aided by players like Miguel Layun and Carlos Vela in while Germany looked dangerous by attacking from the center of the pitch.
Playing wide really paid off for Mexico as Hirving Lozano scored at the 34th minute, giving EL Tricolor the lead. 1-0
Both squads headed to the dressing room at halftime with the score 1-0- One team was in sync while the other was shocked.
Second Half
The Mannshaft seemed determined to tie the score at the beginning of the second half. Germany shifted their center minded focus on attack to a more aerial kind of attack, there were plenty of crosses and headers. While, they generated plenty of scoring chances, Mexico’s Atletico-like defenses denied the equalizer for Germany.
Mexico survived the last 20 minutes of the game. it was a big struggle. During the closing minutes of the game the Germans went all out as players like Mesut Ozil, Mats Hummels and even goalkeeper Manuel Neur got into the attack.
After 3 agonizing aggregate minutes, Mexico sealed its win 1-0
Sweden v South Korea
First Half
The first half was a strange one. there was not much offense to start with, however, South Korea was just good enough to make Sweden play defense during opening minutes of the match. It was already the most physical game of the world Cup tp this point. There were 25 fouls on this first half alone. As Sweden began gaining control pf the match, they generated some decent scoring chances without being able to score. Korea did not had much to write home about during the first half as they barely were capable of getting into the final third of the field.
One of the few highlights pf the first half was goalkeeper Jo who kept the game scoreless with this save
It was a pretty lackluster first half, both teams headed to the dressing rooms wit the score 0-0
Second Half
The second half of the game opened to much of the same. It was still a pretty physical game and yellow cards were given here and there. Both teams were still extremely cautious. Offensive tactics didn’t change much either Korea couldn’t get inside the box while the Swedish used long balls to get to the front. Andreas Grandqvist however, spiced things up just a bit.
Grandqvist scored the opening goal in a penalty kick granted by VAR at the 64th minute
Sweden picked up the win 1-0 at the end of the 90 minutes of a match that did little to wake fans up at home.
Sweden will go on to play Germany while South Korea will do so against Mexico. Both teams will have to fight to remain in the World Cup.
Both Sweden and Mexico are atop the Group F with three points, followed my South Korea and Germany with none.
Group F will play play next Saturday, as Mexico will take on South Korea and Sweden against Germany.