On Wednesday eternal battles will take place in groups E and F, where no team has secured a place in the quarter-finals, writes lrt.lt.
In Group E, it will be just a game of honor for the Costa Rican national team, as in Group F not even South Korea, which has not even tasted the taste of victory, can progress further if circumstances are favorable.
Will the Swedish national team bounce back after a last-minute defeat to Germany?
Wednesday's football spectacle will start with the battles of Group F. In Yekaterinburg, the Mexican national team, which has not yet suffered a defeat in this championship, will meet the Swedes who experienced a last-minute defeat.
"El Tri" started the championship in style, with a 1-0 victory over Germany, and in another match, despite facing resistance from South Korea, they also defeated them with a one-goal margin of 2-1. Mexicans are not guaranteed a spot in the next stage with this result, and they need at least a draw, or in case of defeat, they need to hope that the German national team will not win.
For Sweden's coach Janne Andersson, the start of the championship was also uplifting, as they defeated South Korea 1-0. Everything changed after the second match when a last-minute goal by Toni Kroos deprived Sweden of the point they had safely guarded and secured Germany's victory with a score of 2-1. Sweden needs a victory in these matches. A draw would also satisfy J. Andersson's army, but then they would need to hope that the Germans lose to South Korea.
Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio confirmed that there will be changes in the starting lineup. There is no news of injuries from both team camps.
Possible starting lineups for the national teams:
Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa, Carlos Salcedo, Hector Moreno, Hugo Ayala, Jesus Gallardo, Miguel Layun, Hector Herrera, Andres Guardado, Carlos Vela, Javier Hernandez, Hirving Lozano.
Sweden: Robin Olsen, Mikael Lustig, Victor Lindelöf, Andreas Granqvist, Ludwig Augustinsson, Viktor Claesson, Sebastian Larsson, Albin Ekdal, Emil Forsberg, Marcus Berg, Ola Toivonen.
Germany's chances in Group F
In Kazan, the second meeting of Group F will take place between Germany, trying to recover from their World Cup failure, and South Korea, hoping to create a miracle.
German team writes never underestimate them. In the first match of this tournament, they lost 1-0 to Mexico, and in the last duel against Sweden, it seemed like "Die Mannschaft" would start the final round with only one point, but Toni Kroos' last-minute goal revived German hopes.
The easiest way to progress is to win by a margin of at least two goals, and then the 2nd place in the group would be guaranteed. If Germany wins, and if Mexico loses to Sweden by more than two goals, then the German national team might even hope for the first place in the group.
South Korea has performed decently in the championship. In the first match, they lost to Sweden 1-0, and later they were defeated by Mexico with a result of 1-2. South Korea can advance to the next stage if they defeat Germany and Sweden loses to Mexico. Then all three teams (Germany, South Korea, and Sweden) would have 3 points each, and according to other criteria, the "Reds" could hope to advance to the next stage.
Coach Shin Tae-Young will have to face the most important match without team captain Ki Sung-Yueng, who suffered an injury.
Germany coach Joachim Low will not have Jerome Boateng in his ranks, who received a red card in the match against Sweden, and Sebastian Rudy underwent a nose operation. There is also good news - Mats Hummels has recovered from an injury and is ready to play.
Before the crucial match, J. Low stated that he has various lineup options, which open up many possibilities for the national team.
Statistics do not promise anything good for South Korea. They have lost all their encounters with Germany in World Cup matches. The German national team has never failed to advance to the knockout stages.
Possible starting lineup for national teams:
South Korea: Jo Hyeon-Woo, Lee Yong, Kim Young-Gwon, Jang Hyun-soo, Hong Chul, Hwang Hee-chan, Koo Ja-cheol, Jung Woo-Young, Lee Seung-Woo, Lee Jae-Sung, Son Heung-min.
Germany: Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Niklas Sule, Mats Hummels, Jonas Hector, Ilkay Gundogan, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Marco Reus, Timo Werner, Mario Gomez.
Follow these matches from 8:45 pm on LRT TELEVISION and the news portal LRT.lt.
Switzerland - the fate is in their hands
The miracle of Costa Rica has ended. In the 2014 World Cup, they reached the quarter-finals, but in Russia, they are already out after the group stage. Switzerland just needs to win against Costa Rica on Wednesday, and they will progress to the next stage.
In their first match, Switzerland played a draw with Brazil 1-1, and in the second match, they defeated Serbia 2-1.
This will be the third meeting between Costa Rica and Switzerland. Previously, the teams shared a victory each.
Possible starting lineups for the national teams:
Switzerland:
lrt.lt
