Germany meets the moment and keeps its World Cup hopes alive.

 

It would not have rendered everything Germany had done over the previous couple of hours irrelevant: enduring Spain’s slick, irresistible start, when Dani Olmo cracked a shot off the crossbar and Pedri and Gavi, Barcelona’s seraphic midfielders, clipped the ball around as though it was their personal possessions; slowly establishing a foothold in the game; finding ways to menace a Spanish team that had looked powerful just a few days before.

The last few days have been difficult for Germany. There have been, as Kai Havertz said before the game, more than a handful of frank exchanges of views among the players and the coaching staff. Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, a contemplative, even-keel sort of a person, admitted afterwards that it had taken....                         read more....