Germany's Jamal Musiala: "Ecuador had more hunger"

Bayern Munich attacker Jamal Musiala says Ecuador "had more hunger" than Germany in the teams' final Group E game at the FIFA World Cup 2026.

We round-up the thoughts from the Germany camp as they shift focus to the round of 32.

Julian Nagelsmann (head coach): "We had a great start. In the second half we made a lot of changes because some players had heavy legs. For Ecuador it was all or nothing – you could see that. I can’t blame any of my players today. But we need to make better use of our counterattacks.“

Joshua Kimmich: "We started the game well, but then we lost the ball too often and made the opponent stronger as a result. In the second half, it was a deserved defeat. Now we can’t afford another loss.“

Deniz Undav: "I had the feeling they wanted it more than us. It was all or nothing for them, and we have to learn from this that we need to give everything in games like this too. Our patterns of play weren’t right, and the opponent gave 100 percent in every situation.“

Jamal Musiala: "They simply had more hunger to win the game today. The level of aggression was very high throughout the match. Now we have to prepare for the decisive phase – we need to win the next games.“