Ecuador stun Germany and Türkiye sink USA, yet both giants march on

On Thursday, two of the tournament’s heavyweights closed out the group stage by losing, and neither one seemed all that bothered. Germany got picked apart by Ecuador, the United States got mugged in stoppage time by a Türkiye side that had not won a thing, and both still strolled into the last 32 with the paperwork already filed.

Germany top the group and still lose

Germany finished first in Group E. They also lost. Ecuador came from behind to win 2-1 in New Jersey, and it was no smash-and-grab. Leroy Sané put Germany ahead inside two minutes, the second-fastest goal Germany has ever scored at a World Cup, and then Nilson Angulo answered in the 9th with a finish from range that Manuel Neuer never saw. Gonzalo Plata poked in the winner on 77 minutes. Germany still topped the group on a tidy +7 goal difference, so this was a bruise to the ego rather than the table. Ecuador, who played the better football, squeezed through as one of the best third-placed sides. Not the worst way to gatecrash the knockouts.

USA stung at home, shrug it off

The hosts had already won Group D with a game to spare, which is the only reason a 3-2 defeat reads as a curiosity rather than a meltdown. Türkiye dug out their only win of the tournament in stoppage time. Auston Trusty struck after three minutes, the third game running the US have scored first, and then watched Arda Güler and Barış Alper Yılmaz turn it around before the break. Sebastian Berhalter levelled it at 2-2 just after half-time, and it was drifting toward a tidy draw when Kaan Ayhan bundled in the winner with the last kick. Türkiye go home anyway. The US top the group and get Bosnia and Herzegovina next.

Group E: Germany first, Ivory Coast second, Ecuador through in third. Curaçao out.

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