Youssoufa Moukoko becomes Germany's youngest player ever in World Cup

Die Mannschaft were stunned by the Japanese in their first game of the tournament.

In a shocking turn of events, the 2014 winners of the FIFA World Cup - Germany, lost to Japan by 2-1 in their first match of the FIFA World Cup 2014. The Germans were leading by a goal but Japan came back strongly in the second half of the match and scored two goals to take the game. Youssoufa Moukoko from Germany didn't have a start to his World Cup career as he would've expected. Entering this game, he became the youngest-ever German footballer to feature in World Cup.

Youssoufa Moukoko made his senior debut for the Germany national team last Wednesday against Oman. Aged 17 years and 361 days, the Borussia Dortmund striker made history as he became the youngest player to represent Germany since Uwe Seeler in 1954. Moukoko also became the fourth youngest player to play for Germany overall.

Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Moukoko played for the German national U16 team for the first time on 11 September 2017. Two days later, in his second match against the same opponent, he scored two goals for the Germans. At that time he was the youngest player in the U16s.

Moukoko had a season to remember with Borussia Dortmund as he scored six goals and four assists in just 14 Bundesliga appearances. His performances for Dortmund helped him earn a call-up to the Germany squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Manuel Neuer led Germany is placed in the 'Group of Death' as apart from Germany and Japan, the group has teams like Spain and Costa Rica. Germany will have to win its next two games in order or have to wait for the results of other teams from the group to come in their favour in order to their progress to the next round.