Spain vs Germany Prediction: Expect goals from both teams

At the Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday, high-flying Spain takes on an out-of-sorts Germany team in a matchup between two European heavyweights with different starts to their 2022 World Cup campaigns. While Spain's historic victory against Portugal was the biggest in World Cup history, Germany's humiliating loss to Costa Rica put them in danger of being eliminated from Group E.

Spain Starting 11 (4-3-3): Simon, Laporte, Rodri, Carvajal, Alba, Busquets, Gavi, Pedri, Torres, Olmo, Asensio.

Germany Starting 11 (4-2-3-1): Neuer, Rudiger, Sule, Hofmann, Raum, Kimmich, Gundogan, Gnabry, Musiala, Muller, Havertz.

Last Five Matches: WWWLW

FIFA World Ranking: 7th

Spain faces Germany in Group E's marquee matchup after the Spaniards recorded their biggest-ever World Cup victory (7-0) against Costa Rica on Wednesday. This was also the first time Spain won its opening game at the World Cup since 2006. The efforts of the Spanish coach have not gone unnoticed, with Manchester United being the latest club to try to sign him. However, he is staying put for the time being, and after Spain's resounding victory in their opening Group E match, their fans are optimistic that their team may avenge their 2018 Round of 16 exit. Especially considering how they've seemingly silenced concerns that a shortage of goals would be their downfall in Qatar by scoring only one fewer goal than they did in their victorious 2010 World Cup winning campaign when they scored 8.

Last Five Matches: LWDLW

FIFA World Ranking: 11th

In the wake of their shocking 2-1 loss to Japan on Wednesday, Germany is in danger of making an early exit from the World Cup for the second time in four years. Germany, currently rated 11th in the world by FIFA, "are under pressure" heading into Sunday's decisive match against Spain after winning only two of their last nine internationals across all competitions. Japan showed some hints of an attacking threat early on, but Germany went into the halftime break up by a goal thanks to a penalty from Ilkay Gundogan. Two Bundesliga forwards, one from Freiburg's Ritsu Doan to equalize the score in the 75th minute and the other from VfL Bochum's Takuma Asano with seven minutes remaining, turned the game around dramatically for the Samurai Blue. It seems unlikely that Die Mannschaft will become the first team in World Cup history to get out of the group stage without at least one victory. However, it will not be easy for them to get back on track, as they have only won one of the last seven matches against Spain in 19 years, a 1-0 friendly victory in November 2014, and they have not won a serious match against La Roja since their 2-0 victory at Euro 1988.

Germany must win against Spain to avoid elimination from the World Cup in consecutive groups if Japan beats Costa Rica in the earlier game on Sunday. A decisive victory over Germany, though, would put La Roja back in the equation of contenders to go all the way in this year's tournament in Qatar and would almost certainly guarantee their position in the knockout rounds before their last group match against Japan.

Prediction: Spain scored with will against Costa Rica and defeated Germany easily the last time the two teams met, but Sunday's game is likely to be closer because of the expectation on Flick's men to bounce back after their loss to Japan. The four-time world champions will be pumped up for this matchup in Group E, but we predict victory for Enrique's squad and the likely elimination of Die Mannschaft from the tournament in Qatar. In addition, both sides should be aggressive in their attack during this encounter.

• Both Teams to Score
• Spain to Win
• Over 2.5

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