Germany’s hope for a clean sweep of Group E in the FIFA World Cup was shattered by a fiery Ecuador side who had a dream game against the four time World champions. The tenacity and aggression of the South American team proved to be too much for Die Mannschaft.
Post the upset, German coach Julian Nagelsmann was asked a question on everyone’s minds. “Ecuador wanted it more than us? That’s nonsense,” said the German manager (via DAZN as captured by @iMiaSanMia), adamantly defending his team’s performance.
The pitch however witnessed the Ecuadorians win most of the 50-50 situations. They worked brilliantly as a team to completely cut up the Germans into disconnected blocks. Defending with merciless aggression, the Ecuadorian defense neutralized the threat of dribblers such as Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz. Musiala was dispossessed six times. Wirtz on the other hand had all of his shots blocked.
Undav owns his team’s shortcomings
The forward Deniz Undav was lot more honest with his answer. “I had the feeling they wanted it more than us,” opined Undav, contradicting his manager’s take. Undav came on as a substitute once again and had an immediate impact. He created two chances for Germany, the joint highest on his side along with David Raum and Florian Wirtz. Sadly however, Undav’s only shot came from a very tight angle and could not cut through the narrow gap between Ecuador’s keeper and the post.
So, who do you think got it right, Nagelsmann or Undav? Were Germany ever in the game post their early goal in the 2nd minute?
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