Today's recap is dedicated to the final match-up of group F between Germany and South Korea. While everyone around the world had high expectations for Germany, the defending champions, their World Cup title defense was off to a bad start. They lost to Mexico in the opening match and barely escaped Sweden with a win in the final seconds. If they were to advance to the playoff stage, they needed a win against the Koreans. South Korea was a clear outsider of the group having lost its two previous games against Mexico and Sweden, therefore it was clear who would be the favorite to win the game. Yet, Korea had a pretty decent support from the fans who came to Kazan to cheer on their team one last time, as it was clear that it was the last game for Koreans at the World Cup.

At this point I would like to say a few words about Kazan Arena, the stadium that was built in Kazan to host games for the Confederations and World Cups. The stadium is relatively knew as it was finished back in 2013 and serves as a home stadium for the local team Rubin. The arena's capacity is approximately 45,000 people and while it was not 100% filled for the game I attended, we came within couple thousands. I really enjoyed Kazan Arena because it was still fresh, with nice seats and infrastructure within the stadium for food courts and restrooms.  While there were almost 45,000 people attending the game, it was not too crowded and it certainly did not feel like there were that many people at the game.

The game itself was a true shocker. I don't think anyone expected this game to be a walk in the park for Germany but boy did they struggle. Germans lacked creativity to break the Koreans' defense and while they pressed for full ninety minutes, they had little success in front of the goal. As we were nearing the end of the regulation time, it was clear that Germany might be in trouble as they needed a win to have a chance at advancing from the group. It all changed in 92nd minute when a series of deflections from the corner kick resulted in a Korean player shooting at goal from close range to send the stadium into the sense of disbelief. The questions of whether the player was offside was clearly on everyone's mind and the referee watched the replay of the goal to ensure that the goal was legit. Once it was confirmed, Germany fans were left in a state of a shock as it was clear that Germany would not be advancing from the group for the first time in their history. To add insult to injury, South Korea stroke again few minutes later to make it 2:0.