Hello Moscow! The world champions have arrived. Title holders Germany will be brimming with confidence ahead of their first match against Mexico. Joachim Low and his men begin their title defence at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on Sunday.
FIFA World Cup
Germany vs Mexico
Group F
Sunday 17 June
Luzhniki Stadium
17:00
To Win
Germany 9/20
Draw 31/10
Mexico 57/10
Germany
Joachim Low was recommended by Jurgen Klinsmann to be his assistant for the 2006 World Cup after they had met at a coaching school. They shared the same philosophy and their partnership took Germany to the semi-final in 2006. Low was then appointed as head coach after that tournament and his mandate was to win the World Cup in 2014, meaning he could use the 2010 tournament as a preparation. He took full advantage of that and took the youngest squad to South Africa, introducing to the world the likes of Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Thomas Muller, and Manuel Neuer.
This young group gave expansive and imaginative performances in South Africa, making it all the way to the semi-final, while scoring four against England, Argentina and Australia. They were undoubtedly the favourites in 2014 and they proved their worth, scoring seven against hosts Brazil along the way to being crowned world champions.
The Germans return to the biggest stage with many of their stars of 2014, mixed with youngsters that recently won the FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia last year. Low’s side are amongst favourites to win the tournamament and they are an obvious choice to top Group F.
Germany thrashed Mexico 4-1 in last year’s Confederations Cup. They were 2-0 up inside eight minutes, courtesy of a Leon Goretzka brace. Low will line up his strongest team this time and it will be even more tougher for Mexico.
Mexico
The ever-present Mexicans were top of their group in the qualifiers, winning six of their 10 games and losing just once. El Tricolor have dominated the CONCACAF in recent years and they are always present in major tounaments, including last year’s Confederations Cup where they made it to the semi-finals.
Juan Carlos Osorio’s men are second-favourites (5/1) to qualify from their group. The Mexicans know how to make it out the group stages. They were drawn with the hosts on the last two editions – South Africa and Brazil – of the World Cup but still managed to qualify.
The Mexicans will know they’ll have it tough against the world champions and will look to give a good account of themselves. It’s going to take a special performance to get anything from this match.
Probable line-ups:
Germany: 4-2-3-1
Ter Stegen; Kimmich, Hummels, Boateng, Hector; Kroos, Khedira; Muller, Ozil, Goretzka; Werner.
Mexico: 4-3-3
Ochoa; Moreno, Araujo, Layun, Alanis; Dos Santos, Guardado, Herrera; Vela, Hernandez, Lozano.
Prediction: Germany Win (9/20)
The Germans are expected to win all of their group matches. I think the bookmaker is a bit generous here, 9/20 is a decent price for the world champions. The brave punters can take the Half-Time Win at 19/20.
Written by Banele Pikwa