Have Curaçao exposed a potential weakness in Germany?

It was a well-balanced display from the Germans, who had six different goalscorers in the rout against the tiny Caribbean nation.

However, the Curaçaoans shocked the world early in Sunday's match as they temporarily drew level in the 21st minute, delaying the inevitable blowout with a superb counterattack that may have exposed a flaw in the usually rock-solid German approach.

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Even before Livano Comenencia's historic goal, Curaçao had shown flashes of danger as they looked to attack with speed and directness as much as possible against their vaunted opposition.

And it was that directness that asked questions of the Germans in the early-going, with the likes of Jürgen Locadia, Tahith Chong and Juninho Bacuna all eager to take the ball as quickly downfield as possible, aiming to catch the Germans out of position and forcing them to work fast to regain their shape.

It was such a scenario in which Comenencia's strike happened, as a quick transition from defence to attack by the Caribbeans left Germany scrambling.

The four-time World Cup champions still had a nearly intact back line to try to thwart the incoming attackers, but what did them in was lackadaisical runs made by their midfielders. With Curaçao players streaking forward, a line-splitting pass was cleared by German captain Joshua Kimmich, although his momentum towards his own goal meant that the clearance lacked the power behind it to fully neutralize the threat.

Kimmich again did well to prevent the follow-up attempt by Locadia, flicking the ball away from the striker's feet just as he was squaring up to shoot. Once again, there was little power behind Kimmich's clearance as he was scrambling just to get into position, and that left the ball to roll teasingly into open space at the top of the German penalty area.

This is where it went wrong for Germany, as all of their midfielders had eased their recovery runs expecting Kimmich to take care of the danger, giving Comenencia ample time and space to pounce on the loose ball and fire it past Manuel Neuer.

Was it overconfidence by the Germans that allowed such a gaping hole in the defence to be exploited? A complacency brought on by the feeling that their world class defenders would clean up the mess? An inability to keep up with the pacey Curaçaoans in their end-to-end counterattacks?

Whatever it was, it's a mistake that would be punished by any legitimate contender later on in the tournament, let alone the smallest nation to have ever played in a World Cup. 

DAZN/FIFA

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