Technical changes and tactical shifts were essential in the draw between Spain and Germany.
In the best match of the World Cup after eight days, Germany and Spain drew 1-1 in Group E.
Spain repeated the starting lineup of the rout against Costa Rica. On the other hand, one of the novelties of Germany was the entry of Sule in the defence after a bad performance of Schlotterbeck in the debut. With that, Kehrer came on at right-back.
Another novelty was the entry of Goretzka into the midfield, seeking to reinforce the transitions and the battle under pressure, forming a trio with Kimmich and Gundogan.
The first 25 minutes of the first half had Spain’s superiority with occupation in the offensive field, great work in possession of the ball and nullification of the opponent’s offensive power.
Spain’s movement of the ball in the first few minutes resulted in a ball hitting Dani Olmo’s crossbar and several king chances to score.
However, the German team recovered even before the break with pressure on Spain’s ball outlets, climbing the lines after the midfield, eliminating the tranquillity of Luis Henrique’s team.
Despite the draw not representing a negative result for both, the behavior of Germany and Spain happily corresponded with expectations, as both teams entered the field thinking more about the victory, unlike Mexico, against Argentina.
Germany came back well for the second half keeping the pressure on high lines. Luis Henrique replaced Ferran with Álvaro Morata looking for the offensive reference, moving Asensio to the right.
The strategy proved to be accurate, as Álvaro Morata needed just ten minutes to anticipate Sule’s mark and Jordi Alba’s low cross and beat goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. With that, the German team, exposing itself more in an attempt to seek the turnaround, ceded more spaces. The German coach looking for a greater offensive presence used Fullkrug, Sané and Klostermann.
The changes promoted by Hans Flick were successful and Germany managed to seek a tie with a great finish from Fullkrug, in his third game in the German selection, thanks to the excellent movements of Leroy Sané and Musiala.
The draw was celebrated by Germany and lamented by Spain, scrambled the situation in Group E for the last fixture.
JAPAN 0-1 COSTA RICA
Contrary to expectations, Japan disappointed its fans in the second round with a 1-0 defeat against Costa Rica, a result that complicates Japanese intentions to advance to the next phase.
Japan had early control but did not threaten Costa Rica for the entire first half. There was a lot of searching for Ueda’s supporters, but Kamada did not exploit the spaces in the 5-4-1.
In the second half, Moriyasu changed Japan’s tactical structure to accumulate attackers on the wings and left the team aggressive, putting pressure on Costa Rica with good chances to score.
However, the Japanese intensity subsided and Costa Rica scored the winning goal with their only on-target shot. As a whole, the Japanese performance was disappointing and poor in technical resources, a result that allowed Germany to survive in this World Cup.
