In the second game of the group stage, Germany outlasted Ivory Coast for a 2-1 win in Toronto, Canada. In the 30th minute, Franck Kessié broke the deadlock on a rebound. In the 68th minute, Deniz Undav found himself unmarked for a volley. In the 94th minute, Undav played the role of hero to secure his brace. Outside of the goals, both teams struggled to create consistent opportunities against fierce defensive efforts.
The win pushed Germany to the top of Group E and clinched a spot in the Round of 32. Germany will play Ecuador on Thursday, June 25th at 4pm EST with the opportunity to claim the first place spot and a more favorable matchup in the next round.
The substitutes played the role of X factor
In the 60th minute, Deniz Undav, Jamie Leweling, and Nadiem Amiri replaced Jamal Musiala, Aleksandar Pavlović, and Leroy Sané. The tone of the match immediately changed as Germany started playing with a sense of urgency. Eight minutes later, Amiri’s cross found a streaking Undav for the equalizer on a fantastic volley.
It should come as no surprise that Undav was the miracle man in stoppage time with a blind turn and shot to solidify the win. He finally caught the center-back napping and Felix Nmecha played an insanely perfect ball to set up the shot.
Germany fans have been clamoring for Undav to start for months but primarily over Havertz. Undav appears to be best suited to play underneath Havertz within Julian Nagelsmann’s current system. This change would push Musiala out wide to split time with either Florian Wirtz or Sané.
Germany struggled with Ivory Coast’s speed
Joshua Kimmich has never been considered an elite sprinter by any means but his inability to cut off any sort of forward run from Yan Diomande was a fatal flaw in Germany’s defensive strategy. On Ivory Coast’s goal in the first half, a quick move pushed Diomande to the endline for a hard cross that was missed by Jonathan Tah then surprised Nathaniel Brown on the back post. Brown was able to make the initial block but the rebound was easily put back by captain Franck Kessié.
On the offensive end, only Jamal Musiala was able to consistently win his 1v1 battles. Florian Wirtz played very passive, Kai Havertz could not shake his mark, and Leroy Sané does not scare anyone. This game sorely missed the fearless creativity of Lennart Karl to cause some chaos.
Ivory Coast held a clean sheet through all 10 matches in World Cup qualifying, plus the 1-0 win over Ecuador in the tournament opener. Germany’s attack was forced into a slow, methodical, and predictable buildup before being forced to recover against swift counterattacks up the wings. Ivory Coast dictated the tempo for most of the match but ultimately made a pair of mental lapses.
Felix Nmecha is Germany’s most dynamic player
Nmecha is big, fast, smooth, hardworking, and selfless. While today’s game often seemed too difficult for Germany’s players, Nmecha made the game look easy as he roamed up and down and the pitch. He finished the match with 11 defensive contributions, matching Nathaniel Brown for the team high. It came as no surprise that Nmecha provided the game winning assist when everyone else was content with the draw.
After playing his teenage years through Manchester City’s academy, Nmecha established himself as a consistent starter in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg then Borussia Dortmund. He has been linked to a move back to England this summer with Manchester United and Liverpool, but Dortmund’s asking price will rise after another quality performance from him at the World Cup.
Unfortunately, the other side to this coin is that Aleksandar Pavlović has not shown his top quality thus far. He has put in a lot of effort but is not materially changing the game on either end of the pitch. Joshua Kimmich might find himself playing next to Nmecha in the midfield for the third and final group stage game against Ecuador.
- Germany scored twice in the first half but both opportunities were correctly called back for fouls. Aleksandar Pavlović clearly made body contact with goalkeeper Yahia Fofana, then Jamal Musiala clipped the opponent before Florian Wirtz passed the ball to Kai Havertz for a tap-in goal.
- The Leroy Sané experiment needs to end. Deniz Undav, Jamie Leweling, Nadiem Amiri, and Nick Woltemade are being wasted on the bench when they have something to offer the squad.
- Nico Schlotterbeck’s injury is a big loss for Julian Nagelsmann. Antonio Rüdiger is simply too old to play 90 minutes in a deep tournament run and the other center-backs lack the necessary quality to shut down top level opponents.
- After three red cards in Mexico’s opener, this World Cup has seen an increasing trend of unblown whistles for soft fouls. As one would expect, this has favored defensively minded teams rather than creating free kick opportunities around the box.
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