Germany open the defence of their World Cup title -

Germany

Germany comes into the tournament off the back of an uncharacteristically poor stretch of results: prior to an unconvincing 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia last Friday, the ‘Mannschaft’ had gone five matches without a win.

This may be disconcerting for coach Joachim Low, but not overly so. Germany is renowned for upping their game at major tournaments and have made at least the semifinals for the last four World Cups in a row (and in seven of the last nine, heading back as far as 1982).

In fact, one can argue that this squad of players is even better than the one which won the 2014 tournament. They’re so strong that they can afford to leave Leroy Sane – a key member of the Manchester City team which swept all before them in the Premier League – out of their final 23.

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