South Korea vs Germany: 5 things to look forward to

To avoid elimination in the first round of the World Cup for the first time since 1938, Germany needs a strong showing on Wednesday against South Korea in a wide-open Group F finale at Kazan Arena.

“We thought they did wrong, but they have apologised for their mistake and that’s it”, he said.

Mexico have six points and are top of the group with their opponents Sweden and Germany battling it out on three.

Sweden’s World Cup squad has rallied behind one of their players, after he was racially abused for giving away the free kick that led to Germany’s winning goal.

“But we have to be clear about what we need to achieve”.

Javier Hernández has scored 50 goals for Mexico.

The pair were stood down for provoking Sweden’s bench in Sochi on Saturday with emotional celebrations, which sparked a heated exchange after Toni Kroos’s last-gasp free-kick sealed the Germans’ dramatic 2-1 victory.

“Emotionally right now we are so disappointed”.

“We are going to make the most of it in spite of everyone, and we going to try to win”.

“After the match against Mexico we tried to analyse his way of playing with videos and clips”. We are Serbian, nothing is impossible. “It will be a last ditch effort”.

Midfielder Sebastian Rudy may be able to play with a protective mask after undergoing a minor operation on his nose on Sunday. Mats Hummels is fit to return after a sore neck, and there could be recalls for Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira, both axed against Sweden.

South Korea’s cause won’t be helped by the loss of skipper Ki Sung-yeung to injury, and full-back Park Joo-ho is still sidelined.

Switzerland found itself scrutinized following its 2-1 victory over Serbia because three of its players used the match to make political statements.

Shin Tae-yong’s side, meanwhile, have yet to claim a point from two World Cup outings and need a win to extend their stay in Russian Federation, although a first-round exit looks to be their most likely fate. Germany is the world’s toughest team, the world champions, ranking No 1, but you never know.

With so many permutations, Loew admitted Germany would be keeping an eye on Sweden’s clash with Mexico, which also begins at 1400 GMT.

If Germany were to ultimately be eliminated from the competition after this match, it would be the third successive reigning champion to not get out of the group stage.

Had they drawn, they would be staring at an early exit, but now they know a comfortable win against South Korea should be enough.

– greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.

I had my doubts about Germany before this tournament.

Andersson, still clearly furious about what he previously described as Germany “rubbing it in our faces”, said: “If I had not responded I would have been dead inside”. Joachim Low has to be tempted to bring in Mario Gomez but I wouldn’t.