Following their false start against Mexico in the opener, a German side which included the likes of Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira, Low looked to shake things up a bit and rightly so. The next game saw both the players miss out as the manager opted to go with Draxler and Rudy.
It might not have raised the level of performance of the Germans but the ingredients were there to help Low get on the board and, thanks to a stunning curler by Kroos, they managed to do so in the dying embers of the game against Sweden.
Joachim Low’s secret to success in Brazil was that he chose to opt for consistency in personnel and rarely made changes to the well-oiled machine. Germany are a shadow of what they were four years ago and understandably he was forced to tinker with the system to try and retain the winning formula. He has clearly failed to do so but after the win over Sweden, the right way to go would’ve been to retain the same side.
However, Joachim Low overcomplicated things and made five changes for the game against South Korea and the team looked as disjointed as ever. They struggled to get the ball further upfield quickly and lacked the firepower upfront to make the difference.