Another World Cup<\/u>, another early exit.<\/p>\n
Germany should be getting used to disappointment, but it doesn\u2019t make it any less painful for a traditional soccer heavyweight that had been tentatively hoping for a fifth World Cup title to restore lost pride.<\/p>\n
Germany did manage to survive the group stage for the first time since winning the trophy in 2014, but it\u2019s little consolation after Monday\u2019s loss to unheralded Paraguay on penalties sent the team home after the first knockout game.<\/p>\n
“We messed it up,” Joshua Kimmich told reporters after the match in Foxborough, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
It was a familiar feeling for the Germany captain who also struggled for explanations after the team\u2019s group-stage exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.<\/p>\n
“As a child, when you watched the national team during tournaments, it was always semifinals, finals, or world champions. There was always lots of success. You grew up with that, cheering them on,” the 31-year-old Kimmich said Monday, when he apologized for the team failing to meet expectations.<\/p>\n
“All of us who were on the pitch should feel that, rather than looking to blame someone else. We blew it,” Kimmich said in comments reported by dpa.<\/p>\n
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann is in the firing line after some contentious calls \u2014 particularly after recalling veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from international retirement just before the tournament after months of denials.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old Neuer failed to justify his inclusion at the expense of Hoffenheim\u2019s Oliver Baumann, and was arguably at fault for Ecuador\u2019s winning goal in the last group game.<\/p>\n
“I gave it my all,” Neuer said.<\/p>\n
Nagelsmann finally bowed to pressure and gave forward Deniz Undav his first start against Paraguay, but the move didn\u2019t pay off as the Kurdish Yazidi player was unable to add to his three goals and two assists from his first two games as a substitute.<\/p>\n
Nagelsmann was also criticized for not playing forward Nick Woltemade at all until he sent him on with extra time looming against Paraguay. Woltemade was among three players who missed in the penalty shootout.<\/p>\n
Nagelsmann had raised expectations by saying Germany was aiming to win the title. Ultimately, his team failed to show any justification for such hopes.<\/p>\n
Germany played four games at the World Cup, winning two with victories over debutant Cura\u00e7ao and Ivory Coast, before the losses to Ecuador and Paraguay.<\/p>\n
While Paraguay\u2019s win was joyously celebrated on the streets of its capital, Asunci\u00f3n, it was considered a major shock \u2014 few German fans knew any of the Paraguayan players before the match, and they were already looking forward to a likely Round of 16 meeting with France, which plays Sweden on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“You have to beat such a team,” Neuer said of Paraguay. “That\u2019s a fact when you want to measure yourself against teams like France.”<\/p>\n
Germany’s Recent World Cup Struggles: Heartbreak, Early Exits Since 2014 Title<\/p>\n
Paraguay Knocks Germany Out Of 2026 World Cup After Penalty Shootout<\/p>\n
5 Takeaways From Paraguay’s Upset Win vs. Germany In The Round Of 32<\/p>\n
Nagelsmann has vowed to stay on as coach, though he was also criticized for his prickly responses to questions after the game.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m still convinced that he\u2019s probably the right one to continue,” Germany team director Rudi V\u00f6ller said. “It\u2019s not only up to me.”<\/p>\n
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz illustrated the disconnect between the German team\u2019s hopes and reality better than most when he wrote on social media, “What a match, @DFB_Team! You thrilled our country with your commitment and team spirit at this World Cup. We\u2019re proud of you.”<\/p>\n
Merz was quickly mocked for his post on X, where many users asked which match he was referring to. The words “which match” began trending.<\/p>\n
“I honestly don\u2019t know which was worse. The match or this analysis,” FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann wrote.<\/p>\n
Reporting by The Associated Press.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Another World Cup, another early exit. Germany should be getting used to disappointment, but it doesn\u2019t make it any less painful for a traditional soccer heavyweight that had been tentatively hoping for a fifth World Cup title to restore lost pride. Germany did manage to survive the group stage for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}