Germany – Ivory Coast: Not everything went well for the DFB team

Not everything was good in the victory

Germany has a lot to work through

Germany secured its second win against Ivory Coast. This was mainly due to a strong bench, but the DFB team also had problems beforehand.

The duel with Ivory Coast was expected to be a tough exchange for the German team in this World Cup group stage. The DFB team was 38 minutes behind and shouldn’t have complained about losing a point in the second game.

It is all the more pleasing that after the changes the turning point came after an hour. However, there are national coaches Julian Nagelsmann and his staff to work on a lot of things.

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First of all, there was the first half, in which Ivory Coast looked superior at times. Their head coach Emerse Faé switched from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 compared to the 1-0 win against Ecuador. He already used this formation during the World Cup qualification, in which “Les Éléphants”, as the Ivory Coast national team is called, did not concede a single goal.

Against Ecuador five days earlier, the Ivory Coast played a classic 4-2-4 pressing, in which the front four players in particular moved very well in order to slow down the build-up of play in the opponent’s penalty area.

Against Germany, however, Faé was more concerned with compactness in midfield. The trio with captain Franck Kessié, Ibrahim Sangaré and youngster Christ Inao Oulaï formed a compact block and allowed Germany almost no easy passes Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz. If the ball went to one of the two German playmakers, they were immediately surrounded by several opponents. As a result, there were few clear shots on goal in the first half.

It must be a little worrying for Nagelsmann that the Ivory Coast seemed to be physically superior, especially until the break. Of course, everyone was aware that Faé’s team had some super athletes like winger Yan Diomande. But the speed advantages at the front and physical advantages at the back were sometimes blatant. Right-back Wilfried Singo, for example, who mostly occupied the wing while front man Amad Diallo moved inwards, was able to win a few duels on his side because he simply had a little more strength.

However, it wasn’t just Germany that at some point became weaker. The Ivory Coast also became a little more lax in the second half, defending at times no longer as compactly or with greater passivity. However, Faé only reacted in the 75th minute, while Nagelsmann made a triple substitution in the 60th.