Germany vs Mexico 17/06/18
17 June 2018
The World Cup title holders, Germany, will start the 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign at the Luzhniki Arena in Moscow against Mexico, who is one of three nations from the CONCACAF region that managed to qualify for the final tournament. Although they have dominated their respective qualifying group, finishing top of the table with all ten wins and a stunning +39 goal difference, Die Mannschaft had slowed down a bit in 2018, losing two out of a total of four international friendly matches they’ve played this year. However, after two consecutive defeats, to Brazil and Austria, Joachim Low’s team succeeded to achieve a victory against Saudi Arabia to enter the World Cup on the right foot. As for Mexico, they comfortably topped CONCACAF qualifying group with only one loss in 10 matches, managing to secure their seventh consecutive World Cup appearance. All eight friendlies El Tri played after the end of the qualification process were against the European teams, mainly because they are going to face off against another UEFA member, Sweden, later during the group stage.
One of the most shocking decisions regarding the players called for the final tournament was the exclusion of Leroy Sane, who won’t appear in Russia despite an astonishing season he had with Manchester City. Despite some recent physical problems, both, Andres Guardado and Hector Moreno are expected to start from the first minute.