Shin said he had assumed in his planning that Germany would have already qualified by the time this fixture came around and the fact that the world champions still need a win would make them a much more hard proposition.
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Reigning champions Germany know a win should see them through, while South Korea would themselves need three points and hope that Mexico beat Sweden, as well as topping their goal difference, to advance. Again, beating South Korea would be paramount in any scenario. They have to win, we have to win.
Prior to Kroos’ late goal, Germany were reduced to 10 men following Jerome Boateng’s sending off.
Germany’s Mats Hummels looks dejected after the match.
Twitter is now in meltdown after the exited the group stage for the first time since 1938.
Korea have become the first Asian team to have beat Germany at the World Cup.
Germany were on the brink against Sweden, but having picked up a vital win, Kevin Hatchard expects them to finally hit top gear.
No one could accuse Italy in 1982 of starting the World Cup with brio nor Spain in 2010 and most eventual winners have suffered some extraordinarily knife-edge moments on their way to victory.
Four-time winners Germany must beat South Korea by two or more goals in Kazan to guarantee advancing after a shaky start in Russian Federation.
There was plenty of pressure on the shoulders of the South Korea captain heading into the tournament, and his final performance at the 2018 competition was one he and his country should be proud of.
South Korea: Hyeon-woo 7, Lee Yong 7, Youn-sun Yun 7, Young-gwon Kim 8, Chul Hong 6, Jaesung Lee 7, Hyun-soo Jang 7, Wooyoung Jung 7, Seon-min Moon 6, Heung-min Son 8, Jacheol Koo 6. If Loew wants power instead of speed in attack, he could hand Mario Gomez his first start of this World Cup.
The old cliche that you should never, ever write off the Germans rang very true on Saturday when they came back to earn three points against Sweden. “We are going to clean up, catch up and we have every chance of qualifying on Wednesday for the knockout stage”, he added.
South Korea’s only victory against Germany came in a friendly match in 2004 (3-1).
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Germany’s World Cup ended in humiliation after a shock defeat to South Korea.
