Has there been a more wild, bizarrely open start to the defence of a World Cup? Germany ended this 1-0 defeat by Mexico with six attacking players and three defenders on the pitch, with Manuel Neuer wandering about flapping his arms in the Mexico penalty area, while on the touchline Jogi Löw capered and wheeled, ice-white jogging shoes peddling the air in frustration.
The contrast with the start was profound. In the opening 40 minutes Löw’s team had been ambushed here, the world champions run into a state of breathless trauma by a thrillingly vibrant Mexico attack.
With a quartet of forward-facing players in the starting XI Germany had begun by leaving huge open spaces at the back of midfield, into which Mexico’s three-man attack poured like a green-shirted piranha swarm. This was a champion team out of kilter, stung by what was arguably an act of disrespect to their opponents, a failure to appreciate their threat and the fine planning of Carlos Osorio, and never really able to regain its balance.
On a steamy summer late afternoon the Luzhniki was once again packed. It is a vast space, with a roof that almost closes in on itself capturing the air like a superheated bubble. It was filled here with the boom of Nationalmannschaft-song and the crackle of Mexico’s green-shirted support. Moscow has been crammed with sombreros since Tuesday, another arm of the vast South and Central American presence at the eastern edge of Europe.
There was a hint of structural problems for Germany from the opening exchanges. With Jonas Hector ruled out, Marvin Plattenhardt of Hertha Berlin had come in to play at left-back. Otherwise this was Germany to the max, Germany +1, with Mesut Özil included despite some whispered talk to the contrary, and the old familiar champion faces all over the pitch.
So often Mexico arrive at these tournaments with a compelling energy, natural-possession footballers, and with a winning mania for the shirt. Here they began like a train, with Hirving Lozano finding space in the Germany area in the opening moments from a nice little pass by Carlos Vela.
With 14 minutes gone Héctor Moreno might have scored, glancing a header too close to Neuer from a free-kick.
What a game this was in those early minutes. Germany were also agreeably fluid, with a fine natural width. But they also looked like a champion team short-handed heading back towards their own goal. In the event they lacked a proper midfield bolt, with Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira huffing around in pursuit of the whizzing green machine. The centre-backs looked flustered, left to deal with three on two as Mexico broke. Löw’s 4-2-3-1 seemed antiquated and creaky, with the old World Cup shark Thomas Müller flat-footed in a wide position.
By contrast Vela, Javier Hernández and Lozano switched positions with a thrillingly malevolent sense of purpose. Three times the Mexican gegenpress drew a scampering counterattack, whirring in on goal only to be foiled by a scudding last-ditch tackle or a last pass just awry. Germany were there for the taking, cut open with extraordinary relish by the Mexico attack.
The breakthrough duly arrived after 35 minutes, an absolute beauty of a team goal scored by Lozano. First Khedira was robbed deep in the Mexico half. Hernández sniped away from Jérôme Boateng and Mats Hummels. A flurry of skimmed passes across the wide-open spaces of the Germany defence left Lozano in space in the area. With the stadium howling for him to shoot he cut inside Özil, who had tracked back to right-back, and buried the ball past Neuer.
Every World Cup brings goals and moments that feel as if they’ve been seared into the memory. This was another for the hard drive, as the Luzhniki exploded with deep green joy, necks already craned for a first replay of that wonderful driving move.
Moments later Kroos drew a fine save from Guillermo Ochoa, his dipping free-kick tipped at full extension on to the bar. But as half-time arrived Mexico left the pitch to huge, rolling cheers, Germany with a look of puzzlement.
Germany regeared for the second half: same shape, more control. Mexico had lost some of their vim. And before long the game had turned on its head, with Germany able to keep the ball now, Kroos hitting his range, and Mexico less adept at seizing possession, unable to spring forward with such gusto.
Vela came off, exhausted. Marco Reus came on for Khedira. Özil had done not just nothing in the first half, but less than nothing, offering simply an absence, a Mesut-shaped hole. For a while he dropped deeper with more success, driving forward like a featherweight Roy Keane. Reus shot over. Timo Werner produced a snap-volley from close range that flew into the crowd.
With 73 minutes gone Rafael Márquez came on to add ballast at the back, appearing in his fifth World Cup aged 39 and with alleged links to drug trafficking, which he denies, on hold for now. And so they sat deep with a thin green line of five defenders ranged across their own penalty area as the game became a Mexican stand-off, attack versus defence.
Germany huffed and switched angles and went wide, slinging in crosses, and finally sending on Der Targetman, Mario Gomez, for the last 11 minutes. To no avail, as Mexico held on for a sensational win against the defending champions.
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