FIFA WC 2018: Germany vs Mexico: Player Ratings

Germany:

M. Neuer: 5/10

Neuer looked comfortable on his return from injury, as the veteran looked at his confident best while claiming some routine saves in the initial portions of the game. The custodian made one good reactive save from a long-range effort, but let a goal past through him from the near post too. Certainly, this is something unexpected from a player with his quality and experience.

J. Kimmich: 6/10

Joshua was a constant attacking outlet down the right flank, as his tendency to overlap and get into the perfect crossing positions had two effects on the game. Firstly, he provided some dire offensive threat when the midfielders were failing to create much through the centre. However, his defensive positioning was poor, to be honest, and he left too much space for Lozano who punished this by scoring the decisive goal of the match.

J. Boateng: 6/10

The central defender started off the game in a very characteristic fashion by making a stupendous last-ditch tackle on Lozano. However, he faded out of the game for sometime before again getting back into the groove to make some quick reactive defensive challenges too. He regularly moved up to make some penetrative passes and succeeded in doing so in a couple of occasions. However, Boateng might have to improve on his concentration and communication (which was quite uncharacteristically poor) with Hummels if Germany were to consistently play with such a high defensive line.

M. Hummels: 5/10

Hummels was painfully poor against the Mexicans, as he failed to match up to Chicharito or Layun’s pace when the Mexicans broke on the counter-attack. Mats was slow to react to certain offensive moves and left a lot of area behind while moving up on the pitch. His challenges weren’t the best either, but Hummels managed to churn out a successful tackle or two during the course of the game. A massive improvement is needed from this perspective of the game.

M. Plattenhardt: 6/10

Plattenhardt was rarely involved in the game as most of the offensive moves were from the opposite flank. However, whenever the fullback got an opportunity, he stretched the byline and sent in a mean cross into the box. His attacking credentials are too good to be left unused, and hence the Germans should have tried to utilize Plattenhardt’s strengths in a better way.

S. Khedira: 5/10

Khedira lacked the bite and the energy in the midfield, failed to read the game properly and eventually, Herrera and Guardalo from the opposite camp broke the midfield lines with astonishing ease. Sami did not provide any driving zeal from the deeper midfield position.

T. Kroos: 6/10

Kroos did not get his grip over the game and apparently failed to manage any kind of control over the proceedings. He was caught off-guard whenever Mexico broke on the counter-attack and was undisciplined from a defensive point of view. The Real Madrid midfielder had some good moments with the dead ball though and even took a free kick that bounced off after hitting the crossbar.

J. Draxler: 4/10

The PSG winger was wasteful from the left-flank, often cutting into his preferred right foot and eventually shooting straight at a Mexican player. He did not seem to trouble Ochoa at all, and even Draxler’s crosses were wayward. The lad needs to buckle up quickly, otherwise, he would risk losing his place to Marco Reus in the lineup.

M. Ozil: 5/10

Ozil was marked by Guardalo in the first half and that denied the Arsenal forward of any space to work out his magic on. Mesut often had to drop deeper than he should have in order to orchestrate the play and was seen more often in the half-spaces near the midfield rather than closer to the box. He drifted wide, played through the centre and even took a couple of shots himself, but nothing was enough to create a goal for his side.

T. Mueller: 5/10

Mueller showed some trademark movement in the first half when he interchanged positions with Werner and shifted to the centre quite often. However, his impact was minimal as Mueller faded off from the game in the first forty-five minutes before again getting involved more in the final half-hour. Thomas threaded in a couple of smart through-balls into the box, but the Mexican defence was quick to react to it and that negated Mueller’s influence to a huge extent.

T. Werner: 6/10

The lad got to a bright start as he showed some immaculate movement and pace to bring himself into the correct scoring positions inside the box. Werner even drifted to either flank so that Mueller and Draxler could burst inside in order to add a surprise element to their attacking moves. Eventually, it was not to be like that as Timo was starved of quality service and that reduced his involvement too.

Substitutes:

M. Reus: 5/10

Reus was involved in a mix-up with Kroos over an attacking move where the duo failed to stitch a couple of passes together. However, he was decent enough in patches, though, I feel that we would see the best of him when Reus starts from the left flank.

M. Gomez: 4/10

Gomez was brought in to add another dimension to Germany’s style of play as Mario is strong and holds the ball up quite effectively. Moreover, his introduction nearly paid off when he missed the goal by a whisker through a headed attempt. Such was the kind of day for the Germans!

J. Brandt: 6/10

Brandt should definitely be higher up in the pecking order as he provided more penetrative, attacking spark than Draxler did throughout the game. One of Brandt’s efforts ricocheted off the post, and that was highly unfortunate as the boy was extremely impressive during his short stay on the pitch.

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