Defending World Cup champs Germany were upset in their opener Sunday by a gutsy and tough-as-nails Mexico side, 1-0. There have been some surprising results in the tournament so far—Iceland drawing Argentina, Portugal drawing Spain—but this is the first holy shit upset.
This match was a blast. Mexico had the first real chance, just about a minute in, on a slick run by Hirving Lozano, in a preview of things to come:
Germany, playing their Spanish-inflected style, took the majority (61 percent) of possession, and got off 25 shots to Mexico’s 12, but it seemed in the first half like Mexico’s counters were more threatening than Germany’s possession. The big moment came in the 35th minute, when Mexico grabbed possession near midfield and exploded forward on a through ball to Javier Hernández, who drove forward against Germany’s last defender, with Lozano blazing up the left flank at a million billion miles an hour:
Chicharito slid the ball over to Lozano, who coolly sidestepped Mesut Özil and beat Manuel Neuer for the goal. Mexico’s fans, of course, lost their minds:
54 minutes is a long time to hold onto a one-goal lead against a side as talented and dangerous as Germany, but, man, Mexico dug in and defended their dicks off in the second half. Germany had two great late chances, but a Mario Gómez header sailed over the cross bar and a Julian Brandt strike from distance found the post, and that was that. Hey, how did those Mexico fans feel about the win?
This was Germany’s first loss in a World Cup opener since 1982. So far, this World Cup rules.