The Germany team suffered yet another disappointment in the World Cup when they were eliminated early for the third time in a row. After falling in the group stage in 2018 and 2022, the team was beaten by Paraguay on penalties this Monday, putting an end to their aspirations of winning the fifth championship in 2026 much earlier than expected.
Considered one of the main candidates for the title at the beginning of the tournament, Germany ended its journey in the unprecedented second phase. In the previous stage, the team achieved victories against Curaçao and Ivory Coast, but was defeated by Ecuador. This campaign below expectations and the worrying final result generate uncertainty about the continuity of coach Julian Nagelsmann’s work.
The scenario of criticism, which was already intense before the decisive penalty shootout, intensified drastically. German press outlets described the elimination as a “disaster” and pointed out the “fiasco” of the team’s trajectory at the World Cup.
The premature exit from the World Cup intensifies the pressure on Nagelsmann’s position. Jürgen Klopp, currently working as a television commentator and global director of football at Red Bull, is among the most mentioned names for a possible replacement. He has not even been silent about the current coach’s shortcomings.
“There are 500,000 ways to win a football match. You just need to find one. There was only one goal, one dream, and it was destroyed. It was dramatic. We couldn’t play well,” declared Klopp after the elimination.
Klopp’s criticism of the team’s performance was already evident during the tournament, even before elimination. Before the opening game, he publicly questioned the lineup, stating “fortunately, Julian Nagelsmann is still the one who chooses the team”, even for the match in which Germany beat Curaçao 7-1. Later, the commentator recanted, classifying his speech as “idiotic”.
Even without mentioning Nagelsmann directly, Klopp resumed criticizing Germany’s performance. After the 2-1 defeat to Ecuador, which ended the group stage, the commentator detailed the team’s failures. “Losing the ball is bad enough, but losing in the wrong areas is a catastrophe. That’s what happened to us. We were swallowed up in duels in the center of the field. It was obvious what we wanted to do. The national team can, obviously, do much better. Football has to be tempered with passion, intensity and emotion”, observed Klopp.
Klopp has cemented his global reputation as a coach through remarkable spells. His career includes seven years at Mainz (from 2001 to 2008), a similar seven-year period at Borussia Dortmund (2008 to 2015) and nine successful years at Liverpool (2015 to 2024), culminating in winning the prestigious European Champions League in the 2018-19 season.
Despite speculation surrounding Klopp as a possible replacement, Rudi Völler, the German national team’s technical director, expressed confidence in Nagelsmann following the elimination. “I remain convinced that he is probably the right one,” Völler said.
The setback against Paraguay adds to a string of frustrating results for Germany in recent editions of the World Cup. In the 2018 and 2022 competitions, performance was even weaker, with the team being eliminated early in the group stage on both occasions.
However, the current episode brought a new and painful milestone: for the first time in the entire history of the World Cup, the German team was defeated in a penalty shootout. This is notable as Germany have traditionally been known for their precision and coolness in penalty shootout decisions, a pillar of their reputation for resilience in major tournaments.
