Sporting Life
Mexico's Hirving Lozano (right) and Andres Guardado celebrate after scoring v Germany at the World Cup
Mexico's Hirving Lozano (right) and Andres Guardado celebrate after scoring v Germany at the World Cup

Germany 0-1 Mexico: World Cup holders stunned in Group F opener

Football
Sun June 17, 2018 · 6y ago

Joachim Low's reigning champions Germany lost their opening game of the World Cup, a 1-0 scoreline v Mexico in Moscow.

Hirving Lozano's first-half strike was enough to give the North American nation a deserved victory in their Group F opener after a breathtaking team performance.

A 1-0 Mexico win could be backed at 20/1 pre-match with Sky Bet, with Lozano 11/1 to open the scoring and Mexico/Lozano was 150/1 on a scorecast.

The online bookmaker now make Mexico 8/13 to win the group (1/6 to qualify), with Germany still fancied as second favourites.

Match-winner Lozano's goal came when he finished a Mexican break by drilling a low shot past Manuel Neuer.

Germany took too long to get going and lacked the poise the rest of the world has grown accustomed to seeing on this stage from Die Mannschaft.

They have been battering teams in World Cup openers for as long as any of the players on this pitch could remember. Their last defeat in a first game was to Algeria in 1982, and since then they had averaged three and a half goals, but this was not to be as Mexico stole the headlines.

Dejected: Germany's players at the final whistle after defeat to Mexico

Opta match facts

  • Germany have lost their opening match at a World Cup for only the second time, also doing so in 1982 against Algeria; they went on to reach the final that year.
  • Mexico have won their opening match at a World Cup for the fifth time in their last six tournaments (D1).
  • This is the third consecutive World Cup in which the reigning champion has failed to win their opening match – Italy drew 1-1 with Paraguay in 2010, while Spain lost 5-1 against the Netherlands in 2014.
  • Germany had 26 shots without scoring in this match, the most by a side without scoring in a World Cup match since 2006 (Portugal v England, 29 shots in a 0-0 draw).
  • Rafael Marquez featured in his fifth World Cup finals (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018), becoming just the third player to achieve this feat along with Mexico’s Antonio Carbajal (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962 and 1966) and Germany’s Lothar Matthäus (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998).

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Odds correct as of 1750 BST 17/06/18

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