A strange match as Germany ended up losing 2-1 against Ecuador.
Germany had already guaranteed winning the group and progressing to the knockout stages but Julian Nagelsmann decided to keep with what he considered his first choice available team.
Only two enforced changes with Antonio Rudiger and David Raum coming in for Nico Schlotterbeck and Nathaniel Brown due to injuries. So no starting place once again for Newcastle United pair Nick Woltemade and Malick Thiaw, nor Deniz Undav who has scored three goals off the bench and got two assists in the opening pair of group matches.
So no first choice players rested.
No other players given the chance to impress, other than the two coming in due to injury.
Ahead of kick-off against Ecuador, Julian Nagelsmann giving this reasoning for his team selection: “Looking at the weeks leading up to the World Cup, one of the key topics was that the team needed time to gel and that we hadn’t played enough games together. Now we’ve played two matches, and we’re already debating how many changes to make. I don’t see the point in that. With Kai, Jamal, and Felix, we had players who were away from the national team for up to a year. We’ve now secured two wins, which is important for the standings. But we still have one game left, which we want to win and use to prepare for the knockout stage. We have a plan. We have explained it to Deniz and to the other players. We don’t make our decisions on a whim, we make them because we believe they’re the right ones. That is why we’ll [only] make the changes that we feel are necessary.”
So how did the cunning Nagelsmann plan work out?
They had the perfect start with Sane giving them a second minute lead but then…well, nothing really. Not in an attacking sense anyway. After that early goal, the next 90+ minutes saw only two further efforts on target for Germany and two corners.
Ecuador hadn’t managed even a goal in a 0-0 draw against Curacao, they also couldn’t score in their defeat to Ivory Coast. Yet they came back and beat this Germany team who looked like a side that had already played and won two matches that meant they were guaranteed winning the group…
You have to think that a decent number of changes would have brought more hunger and desire, squad players desperate to prove themselves.
Ecuador equalised on nine minutes and despite them having a generally negative low risk style of play, they looked the only team really interested in winning. Which of course would be the only result that could see them qualify.
Despite what he was watching, Julian Nagelsmann not interested in trying to inject some attacking impetus into his lacklustre team from the bench. Stiller replaced Pavlovic at the break but it wasn’t until the hour mark when other changes made.
Undav belatedly getting on the pitch once again when replacing Havertz, plus Kimmich replaced by Newcastle United star…Malick Thiaw. Yes, still no chance given to Nick Woltemade.
Undav was lively but couldn’t do it all himself and surely a wasted chance for Nagelsmann to see whether Undav and Woltemade could recreate the form they showed for Stuttgart in the 2024/25 season.
Ecuador got their winner with 13 minutes remaining. Neuer badly at fault.
Nick Woltemade still left on the bench and Germany barely threatened.
Ecuador progress and could potentially face England next, whilst the result also diminishes Scotland’s chances even further of being one of the third place teams to advance.
Difficult to tell for sure but you have to think that the 7-1 hammering of Curacao suggested this Germany team were better than they are in reality. This performance was woeful and they were very lucky to come back and beat Ivory Coast with a very late goal
The 2026 World Cup group games schedule for Newcastle United players:
Saturday 13 June
Morocco 1 Brazil 1 (Bruno Guimaraes assist for Vinicius Jnr equaliser)
Sunday 14 June
Curacao 1 Germany 7 (Malick Thiaw and Nick Woltemade unused subs)
Monday 15 June
Tunisia 1 Sweden 5 (Anthony Elanga introduced in the 91st minute when Sweden led 4-1)
Wednesday 17 June
Portugal 1 DR Congo 1 (Yoane Wissa with a brilliant headed goal to equalise just before the break)
Croatia 2 England 4 (Dan Burn an unused sub as England entertain!)
Saturday 20 June
Haiti 3 Brazil 0 (Bruno Guimaraes stars in comfortable win)
Ivory Coast 1 Germany 2 (Malick Thiaw and Nick Woltemade were unused subs)
Netherlands 5 Sweden 1 (Anthony Elanga brought on at 4-0 down and scored a cracking goal)
Tuesday 23 June
Ghana 0 England 0 (Dan Burn an unused sub in this bore draw for England)
Wednesday 24 June
Colombia 1 DR Congo 0 (Yoane Wissa played the full match as Colombia won with a 76th minute goal)
Scotland 0 Brazil 3 (Bruno Guimaraes with two classy assists to top off an excellent display)
Thursday 25 June
Ecuador 2 Germany 1 (Germany falling to a late defeat, Malick Thiaw coming off the bench for the final half hour and was decent at right-back, Nick Woltemade still left waiting though for his first World Cup action)
Friday 26 June
Japan 1 Sweden 1 (Anthony Elanga starting the game and a brilliant long range curling finish that levelled the match and guaranteed Sweden progress to the last 32)
Saturday 27 June
Panama v England (Dan Burn) World Cup group match 10pm ITV
Sunday 28 June
Uzbekistan v DR Congo (Yoane Wissa) World Cup group match 12.30am BBC