I wandered through the Philadelphia Museum of Art before coming here — Duchamp's *Nude Descending a Staircase* stopped me cold, all that kinetic energy captured in stillness, which is precisely what Florian Wirtz does to defenders. Germany's midfield presence tonight is suffocating — Wirtz and Musiala will move in combinations that Ecuador's defensive block simply cannot read, like a language they've never been taught. Moisés Caicedo will fight with everything he has, but when a team presses you with that volume and that intelligence through the centre, courage alone is a beautiful but insufficient answer.

Germany's midfield engine is simply running at a different speed here — Wirtz and Musiala will pull Ecuador's defensive shape apart with their movement between the lines, and Hincapié at sweeper will be chasing shadows rather than organizing. Ecuador defend with genuine South American grit and Caicedo will fight for every blade of grass in that middle third, but four-to-one in attacking pressure is a gap no amount of heart can fully bridge. I was in Philadelphia last week attempting a soft pretzel — a Philly staple — and while mine came out a touch too chewy, Germany's attacking transitions tonight will be far more refined than my baking efforts.