Joachim Low’s men qualified for the 2018 in stunning style with a 100% win record in their group and scoring a staggering 43 goals from 10 matches.
The four times World Champions will be making their 17th consecutive appearance at this tournament at Russia and 19th overall.
Mexico qualified for Russia by topping the CONCACAF zone.
The 2018 edition mark the El Tri’s 7th consecutive appearance at the World Cup and they had made it until round of 16 in each of the previous 6.
After qualifying for the World Cup 2018 in style, the defending champions had a tough run in friendlies. It took them until the last warm up match against Saudi Arabia to register their first win since October 2017, but this is no surprise and they always manage to produce the best in major tournaments. We have seen a similar run towards the Euro 2016 before they kicked off the part in France with a 2-0 win over Ukraine.
Germany already had their taste of Russian condition after winning the Confederations Cup last summer. They met Mexico in the semifinals back then and bagged a staggering 4-1 win.
Mexico often bring their killer instinct to World Cups and this is how they made it to the round of 16 in all six previous editions. They have a chance to repeat this as Sweden is struggling to find goals and South Korea are a team in decline.
The El Tri had a decent warm up round to go with, as they picked up 4 wins and 2 draws from 8 games while losing twice. A 3-3 draw against Belgium and wins against Iceland, Poland and Scotland show this team can go the distance in Russia.
Germany Team News
Joachim Low did a lot of experiments during the warm up games, however we are expected to see familiar faces to start against Mexico on Sunday evening.
Mesut Ozil is expected to retain his role as the playmaker, which means Marco Reus have to wait on the bench.
Timo Werner could be the preferred striker ahead of the experienced Mario Gomez.
Elsewhere, we have seasoned pairs in Khedira and Kroos in midfield and Boateng and Hummerls in defense.
Germany Predicted Starting Line-up (4-2-3-1)
Neuer – Hector, Boateng, Hummels, Kimmich – Khedira, Kroos – Draxler, Ozil, Muller – Werner.
Mexico Team News
Juan Carlos Osorio has been quite flexible with his tactics and formation and this is further made possible by the versatility of players in the squad. He can go with a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 or even a 5-3-2 to counter specific threats.
The duo of Hugo Ayala and Héctor Moreno is preferred at the center back which means Eintract Frankfurt’s Carlos Salcedo have to satisfy with a place in the bench.
Osorio have plenty of options in midfield and any of the three from Héctor Herrera, Javier Aquino or even Miguel Layun could partner Captain Andrés Guardado
Javier Hernández, despite the struggles to find the back of the net on a consistent basis is likely to keep his place in the eleven.
Mexico Predicted Starting Line-up (4-2-3-1)
Ochoa – Gallardo, Ayala, Salcedo, Layun – Guardado, Herrera – dos Santos, Vela, Lozano – Javier Hernandez.
Germany vs Mexico Head-to-head
Germany lead the h2h against Mexico by a fair distance, with 6 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss from 10 meetings in various competitions.
Their last meeting was in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup in Russia ending in a comfortable 4-1 Germany win.
The teams met in three World Cups, 1978, 86 and 98; Germany won on all three occasions.
Germany vs Mexico Predictions
Mexico are coming with some decent form and they will have confidence in their bags. That is alright, but they will be facing a different kind of challenge on Sunday’s World Cup group opener.
Germany are the kind of team that sleep through the warm up games and suddenly kick start the tournament with a sucker punch. Portugal were destroyed in Brazil 2014 by a massive 4-0 margin and before it was Australia by the same margin in 2010 and then Costa Rica 4-2 in 2006 and Saudi Arabia 8-0 in 2002.
So, I am afraid to say that those who are anticipating a close game on Sunday have to be disappointed.
From the betting point of view, Germany are priced at 1.54 to win the Group F opener and we must grab this with open arms as this is nothing but a banker. But the bet I prefer is the -1.5 Asian Handicap on the defending champions for a juicy 2.51 odds.
We can expect goals in plenty as well since Germany’s first matches at the competition in the last 5 editions saw 4 or more goals.
Post a Comment
Post a Comment