Follow along live with Mexico vs. Germany

16’ — Nearly an own goal for Mexico. Joshua Kimmich put in a dangerous cross, Hugo Ayala narrowly missed heading it into his own goal, and Carlos Salcedo only touched it out for a corner by inches.

14’ — Mexico free kick, and Chicharito has a header saved. El Tri is really piling on the pressure.

Against Germany.

Is this real?

10’ — Hector Herrera takes a rip from distance and Neuer’s save isn’t terribly easy. This owns.

8’ — The pace of this game hasn’t slowed down a bit, and Carlos Vela has drawn a foul on Mats Hummels 25 yards out. Miguel Layun stands over the ball and... puts it 10 yards over the crossbar. Womp womp.

3’ — And Mexico answers, with Timo Werner shooting just wide at the end of a fast counter attack. This game looks like it might be bonkers.

2’ — What a start! Chicharito, Carlos Vela and Hirving Lozano put together a pretty move, ending with Boateng barely getting in front of Lozano’s shot. The resulting corner kick had a bit of a scramble too, with Manuel Neuer eventually claiming the ball.

1’ — Kickoff! Folks, the Mexican national anthem was spectacular. El Tri supporters probably only make up 25 percent of the crowd, but they sang their lungs out. This sounds like a home game for Mexico.

10:51 a.m. — Walkouts coming up. Mexico’s got some incredible support in Russia.

10:45 a.m. — This should be fun! Mexico and Germany have both put out very attacking lineups and should be going for it from the first whistle. El Tri boss Juan Carlos Osorio says he’s not afraid of the defending World Cup champs, and you should probably believe him. Remember Copa America?

Germany, 2014 World Cup champions, will play Mexico in a Group F match on Sunday morning. The match will be held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow at 11 a.m. on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports Go.

Mexico says they won’t compromise the way they play, but Germany is built to punish that

Before the match, Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio spoke about the upcoming game against Germany, and made clear that his team wouldn’t change the way they played no matter who was the opponent.

From ESPN:

“We can compete with them,” Osorio said in the pregame news conference on Saturday. “We think we have a good chance to match up against the best team in world football and go head-to-head against them.”

”I completely believe in my players and I believe that with the midfielders we have we can dispute the possession,” added Osorio later on. “We have to respect the opponent, but ... we will not change our idea of playing. We’ll always go toe-to-toe.”

Before I go further, I should point out that this could entirely be him playing possum, and Mexico will come out tomorrow in a practical, defensive formation that seeks to limit Germany’s ability to do what they’ve shown they can do.

But if they do what Osorio says they’re going to do, come out and try to beat Germany at the possession game, and press high through the midfield, and really go at them, I’m nervous for Mexico’s chances. I admire his decision, and Osorio might believe it’s best to keep his team’s confidence high and buy totally into an identity.

The problem is, the Germany team is built to break down teams that try to do this to them. Germany’s midfield is among the finest in the world. (Well, every position for Germany is among the finest in the world.) They are extremely good at breaking out of high pressure, linking passes, and getting the ball into the feet of their attackers, who are very good at scoring. This isn’t the same side as the last World Cup, but if you remember the Brazil semifinal where Germany won 7-1, you know what can happen when a team decides they aren’t going to change how they play against the Germans.

Toni Kroos, Julian Draxler, Sami Khedira, Leon Goretzka, Mesut Ozil, Marco Reus, Thomas Mueller, all options for coach Joachim Löw to break down a Mexico press. They’ll be taking on an exciting, energetic, though slightly raw Mexico side which as of late has, in friendlies, looked a bit disjointed. You can’t be disjointed against Germany.

I hope I’m wrong. I pray I’m wrong. I want Mexico to play high pressing, possession-oriented, beautiful soccer and for it to work against Germany. But as my colleague Kim McCauley wrote this morning, this has been the World Cup of cold reality so far. The practical teams have done well. The teams that want to Go For It have failed. Such is tournament soccer. Let’s hope this match bucks the trend.

UPDATE: Mexico’s lineup is out, and I feel slightly better!

Osorio put out a strong lineup but appears to be adding Miguel Layun into the midfield to stiffen things up and perhaps try to make life more difficult for the Germans. It’s not ultra defensive by any means, appearing to be a 4-2-3-1 if I had to guess, but with a strong center of the park.

Mexico Lineup:

#MEX’s starting XI for the #WorldCup against the world reigning champions, #GER:
Guillermo Ochoa
Carlos Salcedo
Hugo Ayala
Héctor Moreno
Jesús Gallardo
Héctor Herrera
Andrés Guardado
Carlos Vela
Miguel Layun
Hirving Lozano
Javier Hernandez@FOXSoccer @FS1
— Rodolfo Landeros (@RodolfoLanderos) June 17, 2018

Germany lineup

Mexico vs. Germany time, TV channel, and streaming info

Can Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez score in his third straight World Cup?

Chicharito has led the Mexico front line for years, and remains the leader of the team’s attack in Russia. However, a spotty year for West Ham, which saw Hernandez struggle to find consistent time and only score eight goals, has some Mexico fans concerned he isn’t in the form you want a striker to be in heading into a World Cup. We will see.

It’s time for the Timo Werner show

Werner is just 22 years old, but after two back-to-back electrifying seasons for RB Leipzig, which saw him score 42 goals in two years, he’s ready to lead the front line for Germany. He’s only made 14 appearances for his country so far, but he has eight goals in those 14 appearances, a haul that’s sort of flabbergasting. Mexico’s defensive line will have their hands full.

Things to read ahead of the game

FMF State of Mind: Why you should root for Mexico in the World Cup

If you’re in the United States, you will undoubtedly hear hand-wringing and angry chest-thumping about not rooting for your most hated rival. While Mexico is a rival on the field, off of the field our countries are entangled so deep throughout history that no amount of xenophobia masquerading as patriotism can erase it.

FMF State of Mind: Mexico hoping for deep World Cup run after ghastly year

On paper, you might think this Mexico team is coming in as hot as ever to the world’s biggest celebrated sporting event. After all, El Tri ran past everyone in CONCACAF qualifying en route to finishing first in the hexagonal with a five point difference from first place to second place. They also scored the most goals (16) and conceded the least (7). Osorio’s overall record of 30-9-9 is deceiving yet positive to the naked eye.

Bavarian Football Works: How should Germany line up against Mexico?

As far as the squad makeup is concerned, Germany have several new faces debuting in Russia. Gone are the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose, and Philipp Lahm. Joshua Kimmich steps into the shoes of the former Germany captain, while the much of the core of the team has been retained from 2014.

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