Mexico 1 Germany 0

By one shot, for one second.
Possession, shots, shots on goal - all Germany by about 2:1., corners 8:1.
However, Mexico outfouled them by a lot.

Mexico won, so in the end stats really do not matter. I thought Mexico played some ugly kickball and pack the defense soccer, but it worked and a win is all that matters in the World Cup. I hope Mexico does not get overconfident going into their next game.
 
Mexico played Germany straight up at the Confederations Cup last year and got hammered, there's no way they can try and play them straight up in a back and forth. Germany is the kind of team that can get to the other side of the field with 1 or 2 passes.

In the past, Mexico's strategy was to out possess Germany and slow the game down and be more methodical to their approach.

But this time around Osorio explicitly played the counter. In the first half I thought Mexico outplayed them with this strategy and were pretty fluid in their transitions. In the second half they had difficulty employing the same strategy, and with the lead it seemed they hunkered down more as they look gassed from having to play the counter and get back defensively. Osorio played with numbers in the midfield but they were compact and they gave up the wings all day, further forcing themselves to run back and forth. That being said, Germany had opportunities that could have changed the narrative and Mexico didn't capitalize on a few opportunities themselves that could have gave them a win by a few goals.

It'll be interesting to see how they change things up in the next couple of games, as one of the criticisms of Osorio is that he's always changing it up and his critics can't guess his next move.

Mexico has always stepped their game up against the bigs on the global stage but has never been able to finish games out and get over that hump. With their historic win over Germany on the biggest stage, will this year see Mexico get to that "5th game"?
 
Mexico played Germany straight up at the Confederations Cup last year and got hammered, there's no way they can try and play them straight up in a back and forth. Germany is the kind of team that can get to the other side of the field with 1 or 2 passes.

In the past, Mexico's strategy was to out possess Germany and slow the game down and be more methodical to their approach.

But this time around Osorio explicitly played the counter. In the first half I thought Mexico outplayed them with this strategy and were pretty fluid in their transitions. In the second half they had difficulty employing the same strategy, and with the lead it seemed they hunkered down more as they look gassed from having to play the counter and get back defensively. Osorio played with numbers in the midfield but they were compact and they gave up the wings all day, further forcing themselves to run back and forth. That being said, Germany had opportunities that could have changed the narrative and Mexico didn't capitalize on a few opportunities themselves that could have gave them a win by a few goals.

It'll be interesting to see how they change things up in the next couple of games, as one of the criticisms of Osorio is that he's always changing it up and his critics can't guess his next move.

Mexico has always stepped their game up against the bigs on the global stage but has never been able to finish games out and get over that hump. With their historic win over Germany on the biggest stage, will this year see Mexico get to that "5th game"?

Watching the replay of the Mexico goal, I was surprised to see such great teamwork. No one involved in the break that led to the goal took more than 3 touches on the ball.
 
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