Germany are one of a handful of national teams without an acceptable bar for failure. It simply doesn’t exist for a country with four World Cup stars above their team badge.They win it or they don’t, and for Germany that means returning to New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Sunday, July 19, a little over three weeks after they ended the group stage there with a 2-1 loss against Ecuador.Julian Nagelsmann could justifiably point to the fact that his team had already tied up first place in Group E. The last matches left Germany and Ivory Coast both on six points but Die Mannschaft had the head-to-head advantage and their goal difference was vastly superior in any case.Germany have been emphatic and off-colour in the space of three World Cup group gamesKai Havertz scored twice against Curacao (Image credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)Yet the progression of Germany’s results and the accompanying performances might just have the head coach quietly taking a microscopic look at some of the details.Thrashing Curacao and squeaking past Ivory Coast harvested six points; textbook tournament football. Losing the next game might not matter at all. It certainly doesn’t change anything tangible. The concern, if there is one, is that Germany have played less assuredly with each game.Deniz Undav has scored three times at the World Cup (Image credit: Getty Images)Germany’s next opponents can look at how their group played out and quite fairly draw the conclusion that the post-hydration break battering of Curacao was imposing but misleading.It would be uncharitable to say Germany were fortunate to beat Ivory Coast but it would also be true to an extent. Failing to win wouldn’t have been any more warranted a result but it nearly happened regardless.Losing to Ecuador was deserved and that’s a worry. Germany took an early lead that might have been disallowed on another day, coughed it up almost immediately, and then went on to lose. If robustness is a trait of World Cup winners in waiting, Germany’s first game at MetLife wasn’t a good omen.Germany have that troublesome combination of weaknesses at either end of the pitch.Manuel Neuer has been a phenomenal goalkeeper. He was a pioneer and he won it all. For a time, he was the best in the world. The goals Germany conceded against Ecuador demonstrated first a physical decline and then a lapse of mental sharpness in a key moment.Manuel Neuer shares the blame for both of Ecuador’s goals…
2026-06-26 06:00:00
How much can we read into Germany's World Cup group stage results?
