Mexico, who bowled over the World Champions, pose a stern test. “El Tri” as the team is known, have made the perfect start at the tournament. “Mexico have a very strong team, stronger than we initially thought”, admitted Augustinsson, “they put out a very good side at the Confederations Cup”. The Mexicans have won both their group games, granted - narrowly. Ludde continued, “They will be difficult to play against, but there are no easy games at the World Cup.”
The Scandinavians have shown that they too are no pushovers. They began with a breezy 1-0 victory over South Korea. Then they kept Germany at bay for the majority of the game, leading 1-0 in the first half. The Germans only wrestled away the points in the last minute of injury time through Toni Kroos’ sensational match-winner. “We were absolutely gutted after the final whistle. We fought for 90 minutes, defended incessantly in the second half and worked hard to take something away from the match”, recounts the 24-year-old. “Germany were even down to ten men and we were so close to banking that extremely important point. Then came that free kick...”.