Mexico fans celebrate South Korea’s victory over Germany with impromptu parades

The scene in Kazan is set – a must-win match for a team of established stars, World Cup veterans and reigning champions against a “minnow” side with no hope of advancing to the Last 16.

“We deserved to be eliminated”, Germany coach Joachim Loew said.

Italy were also dispatched in the group stage in 2010, just four years after lifting the trophy in Germany.

The assistant initially ruled out Kim’s opener – which was netted from close range after a corner – but VAR showed that two Germany players touched the ball before it reached the defender, leaving the referee to reverse the initial decision.

Kim’s goal, along with another from star forward Son Heung-min, ensured the defending champions crashed out of the World Cup, finishing at the bottom of their group.

As CBS Sports pointed out in a tweet, this is the first time Germany has been eliminated in the first round of a World Cup since 1938.

Löw made five changes to the starting lineup from that encounter yet nothing clicked.

After watching their team play poorly against Sweden, the mood among Mexico fans at the game improved when news came in that South Korean goalkeeper Joe Hyeon-woo was preventing Germany from scoring.

As you can imagine, fans went wild over South Korea’s incredible win, which kept the defending World Cup winners from advancing. They could also have gone through with a draw, if the Sweden-Mexico game had also ended in a draw. Shin, who had given South Korea a one per cent chance of victory before the game, said: “I feel great, but at the same time, I feel a little bit empty, so I feel a little ambivalent”.

He added: “We believed in it until the very end, we tried to shoot, but we just couldn’t get the ball in”.

After defeats to Sweden and Mexico, South Korea were expected to bow out of the tournament against a Germany side who needed a win, but a major surprise occurred in Kazan.

South Korea, however, finished its campaign in Russian on a high, scoring two goals in injury time. “Of course, it takes a couple of hours to look into that”, said Low about his own position.

“We had it in our own hands, but we did not make it”, Neuer, who confirmed his intention to remain available for worldwide selection, said.

“The disappointment is deep inside me”.