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'Are you watching Germany?' England fans mock rivals after World Cup exit

Germany were knocked out of Russia on Wednesday after going down 2-0 to South Korea

Ed Malyon
Moscow
Thursday 28 June 2018 19:19 BST
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England v Belgium World Cup preview

England fans mocked their eliminated German rivals as the Three Lions played out their final group game against Belgium assured of qualification for the World Cup knockout rounds.

Germany, who England beat in the 1966 World Cup final but who have since held the upper hand over the Three Lions, were knocked outr of Russia 2018 on Wednesday after going down 2-0 to South Korea.

The result left them bottom of Group F with Mexico and Sweden progressing to the round of 16.

It was the Germans’ worst performance in a World Cup since 1938 and continued the recent run of defending champions being eliminated at the group stage.

England took on Belgium in Kaliningrad (EPA)

The last three champions; Italy, Spain and now Germany, have failed to progress to the knockout phase of the competition.

And with Joachim Low’s side touching down back in Berlin before England had even kicked off their third group game, the travelling contingent cheering on the Three Lions wasted no time in mocking their rivals, singing: “Are you watching Germany?”

Low admitted that the Germans might have been too over-confident in their approach to the competition, with the 58-year-old coach reportedly telling forward Marco Reus that he was being saved for more important games later in the competition.

“We had a good training camp,” Löw said. “The team worked well, players were training really well. But the two friendly matches, against Austria and Saudi Arabia, were not good. Maybe we thought at the push of a button we could shift gears, but we lost against Mexico. If we had taken a point it would have been different. We couldn’t flip that switch. We were convinced once tournament started we would be able to play well but it didn’t happen.”

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