Arizona Tribune - Germany committed 'tactical suicide', says Nagelsmann

Leroy Sane gave Group E winners Germany a perfect start by netting after two minutes but Nilson Angulo equalized seven minutes later.

With Ecuador chasing a place in the knockout round, they were the hungrier side and Gonzalo Plata scored a priceless winner on 77 minutes in New Jersey that put them in third place, which was enough for a place in the next phase.

"We got off to a great start," Nagelsmann said. "Unfortunately, right after scoring, we started committing tactical suicide with our positioning. That makes things difficult.

"Ecuador had everything to play for, and you could tell -- they had their foot on the gas. But I also can't say that any of my players didn't give it their all. That's too simplistic."

Nagelsmann said he would have preferred not to head into the next phase on the back of a loss -- Germany will play in the last 32 on Monday.

"Defeat is never good, not even in a game where you can't lose top spot," the coach said.

"We'll learn our lessons and go on. We have to learn from it and improve, but we also have to look forward.

"We won a lot of matches, we lost one, and on Monday it's important to start well and give it everything to get to the next round."

K.Hill--AT