World Cup 2018: 3 German players to watch out for in today's match against South Korea
The defending World Cup champions Germany had a very sloppy start to their campaign with a 1-0 defeat to Mexico. The Germans were outplayed in pace, stamina, awareness by the Mexican players.
Hirving Lozano who scored the goal for Mexico was given too much space to operate in the wing and made Germany pay. The German players pondered too much with the ball and lacked the instinct and determination to score goals.
In their second game against Sweden, Germany were more more aggressive, penetrated the tough Swedish defense and secured a 2-1 to stay alive in the World Cup due to Toni Kroos stunning free-kick in the 95th minute.
South Korea on the other hand are a good team unit who lost 1-0 against Sweden in which VAR played a major role in awarding a penalty for Sweden to score from. In their second game against Mexico, they were outdone by Mexico's counter-attacking football and lost the game 2-0.
Being tied with Sweden at 3 points each in the group table, Germany will have to beat South Korea in order to qualify for the knockout stages. They have come out strong from the start against South Korea and be ruthless in front of the goal.
It will probably be the defining game of Group F, as the result of this game might indicate the two teams who will qualify for the knockout matches. Let us have a look at 3 German players to watch out for in today's game.
#3 Joshua Kimmich
Kimmich is one of the most promising youngsters to watch out for at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Having so many expectations on his young shoulders, Kimmich was completely outplayed by the talented Mexican winger Hirving Lozano in their first group stage match.
In the first match against Mexico, Kimmich ventured forward rather too much and hence was caught out of position during Mexico's counter-match. He also had no answer to Hirving Lozano's dribbling abilities and terrific pace. Kimmich had a decent game against Sweden but was nowhere near his best form.
Germany would expect Kimmich to handle South Korean wingers much better defensively as it is more likely that they will be more adventurous than Swedish wingers and deliver beautiful crosses into South Korea's penalty box for the German strikers to score goals.