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Defending World Cup champions Germany fell to a 1-0 defeat to Mexico in their Group F encounter at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Sunday in what was a brave display of defending and counter-attacking football from El Tri.
Hirving Lozano scored the only goal of the game in the 35th minute before Mexico heroically absorbed wave after wave of attacks. The win sees them top the group with Sweden and South Korea set to play tomorrow.
Here are the major talking points from the game.
#1 Mexico's livelier start gives Germany problems
Germany may have started the game as clear favourites but it was Mexico that were pilling on the pressure at the start of the first half. The North American side were always looking to find one of their forwards with quick passes and a little more composure could have seen them score a goal or two early on.
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In the first 15 minutes alone, Mexico had five shots on goal (from Hirving Lozano, Javier Hernandez, Miguel Layun, Hector Herrera, and even Hector Moreno).
If not for Germany's ability to quickly recover and set their defensive line in order, Mexico could have easily been in front. Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels had their task cut out and were kept very busy at the back - especially in the first half-hour of the game.
Mexico were able to cut through Germany's lines with ease thanks to some crisp passing and movement off the ball. Germany were playing so deep at times when Mexico dominated that even Toni Kroos had to drop deep and play on the edge of his own box to collect the ball and move it forward.
Mexico lacked composure at first, crowded out when they took too much time to make a decision. But one counter-attack was all they needed to finally open up the game.
With Mats Hummels drawn out of position, Mexico countered with two quick passes and Lozano had all the time in the world to set himself up for the shot. He nearly fluffed it but, in the end, he beat Neuer with a shot to his right to give Mexico the lead.
#2 Germany's midfielders abandon their defensive duties
One of the main reasons why Mexico were so effective when they counter-attacked was because they were able to do so without a numerical disadvantage. Almost every counter-attack from El Tri saw them in 2-vs-2 or 3-vs-3 situations with a high probability of success - provided they made the right decision in the final third.
Sami Khedira and Toni Kroos played in the midfield pivot but it was far from that. When Germany had the ball and Mexico retreated into their half, both German midfielders looked to get forward.
With Mesut Ozil (their third midfielder) waiting for the ball in space between the lines, there was nobody else to shield Hummels and Boateng. There were times when both centre-backs had nobody in front of them to stop a counter-attack when Germany were dispossessed.
This saw them risk challenges high up the pitch and their biggest mistake saw Hummels go for a non-existent challenge and losing his footing that eventually led to the goal.
To make matters worse, their high line did not do Germany any favours either with Mexico utilising their pace very well to get forward quickly.
#3 Mexico exploit space left behind by marauding Joshua Kimmich
Make no mistake, Joshua Kimmich is an excellent full-back and Germany are lucky that he came along as soon as Philipp Lahm retired from the international scene.
The 23-year-old right back was instrumental in their World Cup qualifiers, piling on the assists playing out wide on the right. Joachim Low has obviously given him the freedom to get forward and make overlapping runs and he is quite effective when he gets forward.
However, against Mexico, it backfired. El Tri coach Juan Carlos Osorio had clearly asked his players to counter-attack down Kimmich's flank when his positioning was exposed.
Mexico pressed with a lot more fervour when Kimmich was in an advanced position and it paid off when they dispossessed the defending champions. With Kimmich further up the field, Carlos Vela drifted to the left while Hirving Lozano also found more space to work with.
It was Kimmich's absence that allowed Mexico to counter-attack down that flank and even though Ozil tried to cover for his absence, he is no defender to close down a player with tricky feet as well as Kimmich does.
#4 Mesut Ozil and Manuel Neuer start, putting to bed debates over team selection
These are strange times in Germany. Normally, Die Mannschaft are well-supported and allowed to go about their business when preparing for a major tournament. But the World Cup saw controversies bubble beneath the surface.
It is usually the English media that give their teams hell even before a ball is kicked but Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan found themselves in the eye of a media storm when they met Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan - a move that even saw German Chancellor Angela Merkel make a comment.
The media furore saw both players booed in the warm-up games and coach Joachim Low was under pressure to drop Ozil from the starting lineup. Yes, Ozil who has played each and every game for Germany in every major tournament since the 2010 World Cup.
Gundogan was never going to start but Low retained Ozil in his lineup. Although he wasn't as instrumental as he would have hoped, Ozil did create a few chances for his teammates.
The same media pressure had applied to Manuel Neuer as well. The big German goalkeeper has not played this season since September due to a broken foot injury and only proved his fitness in the national camp prior to the World Cup.
There were calls for Barcelona's Marc-Andre ter Stegen to start in goal considering his fine season in La Liga but it was Neuer who did start in the end. The skipper even put in a commanding performance - even though he could do nothing about the goal.
#5 Mexico fail to make their advantage count... But hold on for the win
As Mexico held on to a slender 1-0 lead, Germany continued to push forward and pushed their defensive line all the way into Mexico's half. With just a 1-0 lead to protect, Mexico decided to sit back and break on the counter only when they had to.
What they could have done was post one or two players near the halfway line but they opted to sit deep and deny Germany any space to work with. Osorio had even withdrawn Carlos Vela and Lozano for Edson Alvarez and Raul Jimenez to switch to a deep 5-4-1 formation.
As a result, Low went to Plan B and substituted Marvin Plattenhardt to bring on Mario Gomez up front with 20 minutes to go. If not for goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and some heroic defending in the box, Germany would have equalised.
1-0 may have been enough but Mexico were guilty of being wasteful when they could have stretched their lead time and again. A number of counter-attacks either fizzled out because the final ball was poor or because they couldn't keep their shots on target.
But in the end, it was Mexico who collected all three points to hand the defending champions their first loss in the World Cup since 2010.
