Pre-match information
Germany will close the group stage of the 2026 World Cup with a confrontation with Ecuador at New York New Jersey Stadium. They soon topped the group after two consecutive victories when defeating Curacao 7-1 in the opening match before defeating Ivory Coast 2-1 dramatically.
Coach Julian Nagelsmann's team did not have their best performance against the African representative when they were led after Franck Kessie's goal in the 30th minute.
However, Deniz Undav became a hero when he came on as a substitute, scored the equalizer in the 68th minute before sealing a 2-1 victory in injury time, helping Germany soon win a ticket to the 1/16 round.
When the top spot is firmly in hand, Nagelsmann is likely to rotate the squad to save strength for key players. However, the German team still has great motivation when facing the opportunity to equal the record of 12 consecutive wins in the team's history in all competitions.
The German tank" once made a streak of 12 victories from May 1979 to June 1980. With their current form, they are quietly aiming for the goal of conquering their fifth World Cup title.
If they beat Ecuador, Germany will win the World Cup group stage for the fourth time, after the 1970, 1974 (second group stage) and 2006 tournaments.
On the other side, Ecuador's door to the next round is becoming very narrow. Coach Sebastian Beccacece's team successively lost to Ivory Coast 0-1 and drew with Curacao 0-0, forcing them to defeat Germany to have hope of winning a ticket to the knockout round.
However, scoring form is the biggest problem of the South American representative. Ecuador has not yet scored any goals after two matches. Historically, only Bolivia has finished a World Cup without scoring a goal among CONMEBOL teams, in the 1930s and 1950s.
Despite launching 16 shots on target after two matches, Ecuador has not yet been able to penetrate the opponent's net. In the period from 1966 to 2022, the record for the most shots on target without scoring belonged to the French team at the 2002 World Cup with 18 times.
