After 12 years, Germany is back in the knockout stages of the World Cup. The place was reached this Saturday (20), after pulling off a comeback, in stoppage time, in the game against Ivory Coast, valid for the second round of Group E of the World Cup. The result leaves the German team in first place in the group, leaving second place open.
Undav entered the second half and turned the score around in the second half (68′ and 90’+4), after the ‘Elephants’ went into the break with an advantage thanks to Franck Kessié’s goal (30′). The German team, which beat Curaçao 7-1 in its debut, has six points and leads Group E, while Ivory Coast remains with the three points it gained with the 1-0 victory over Ecuador in the first round.
In the last round of the group, Germany will face Ecuador and Ivory Coast will play against Curaçao.
The game in Toronto rewarded the resilience of Julian Nagelsmann’s team, who made the right substitutions at halftime, bringing Undav onto the field. At the same time, it punished the lack of opportunism of the Ivorians, who wasted several chances to settle the bill.
Ivory Coast fulfilled the predictions and imposed a counterattacking style of play. A brilliant run down the left by Yan Diomandé, the African team’s star, resulted in a cross that, after an error by the German defense, led to Kessié’s goal.
Germany felt the blow and spent a long period without being able to react.
Neither Jamal Musiala nor Aleksandar Pavlovic managed to take advantage of most of the ball possession. Nagelsmann, the youngest coach at this World Cup (38 years old), noticed and replaced both with Undav and Nadiem Amiri.
With Côte d’Ivoire feeling the physical exhaustion, Germany accelerated the pace and the African team’s defense failed at crucial moments, which ended up costing them the defeat.
*With information from AFP
