MOSCOW, Russia - A first half goal from Hirving Lozano earned Mexico a 1-0 victory over defending world champions Germany in its 2018 FIFA World Cup Group F opener on Sunday evening at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia
It marks the first victory for a CONCACAF team against the four-time World Cup champions (1W-1D-6L).
Mexico came out flying and Lozano nearly gave El Tricolor a lead in the opening minute but saw a chance cleared by the German defense.
The Mexico counterattack was creating headaches for Germany, and at the second time of asking Lozano would find the target as he collected a pass from Javier Hernandez and finished off a counterattack with a right-footed shot to hand Mexico a 1-0 lead in the 35'.
Germany looked to strike back in the second half and started mounting pressure, but the Mexico defense stood its ground.
The counterattack still played to Mexico's favor and Hernandez was presented with a chance in the 68' but was unable to get off a shot when played in on goal.
Ten minutes later it was Miguel Layun with a chance to increase the lead only to see his right-footed shot miss by a few feet over the crossbar.
To shore up his defense, Mexico Head Coach Juan Carlos Osorio brought on midfielder Rafa Marquez, who now has officially appeared in five different World Cups.
The presence of the veteran Marquez along with the superb goalkeeping allowed Mexico to see things out, giving Mexico a precious three points to open its World Cup campaign.
