Head coach of Germany national team, Joachim Low, has blamed their 1-0 defeat to Mexico in their first Group F fixture on Sunday, on a poor first half.
He, however, vowed to qualify for the next round.
Mexico pulled off a historic victory, after Hirving Lozano netted a first-half winner at the Luzhniki Stadium.
“Indeed it is disappointing to have lost the first match, that it is a situation we are not used to at all. In many tournaments we have always won the first match but we have to accept this.
“In the first half the impression was that we were not as dynamic as we usually are and in the second half I didn’t have the impression we were losing strength.
“It was not a lack of stamina that meant we could not turn the match around. As a player in a World Cup you have to accept pressure.
“We will certainly not change our match plan. In the first half, to a large extent, the players were coming back trying to recover the ball instead of playing deep, if we are not more incisive we will lose the ball. We have to focus on our strong points.
“We knew we had to be stable in these first matches but very often, in an unfamiliar way, we looked nervous and in the first half it did not happen and we will have to analyse why it happened,” he said.
When told that some former World Cup winners have failed to qualify from the group phase four years later, Low replied: “We will not suffer that fate; we will make it to the next round.
“In tournaments this (losing a match) can happen and you have to accept it. We will not become reckless. We will continue to look forward. There is no reason to panic. We have three matches and ample opportunities to correct this result.”
Comments