The German national team made history tonight (Thursday), but not the kind that soccer players and coaches want to be a part of. For the first time ever, the Mannschaft failed to make it past the group stage in a second consecutive World Cup. It happened to them in 2018 and again once in Qatar. An amazing detail if you take into account that between 1954 and 2014 (inclusive) Germany passed the group stage in every World Cup tournament.
The 2:1 loss to Japan in the opening round was the one that, in retrospect, signaled Hanzi Flick and his players the way home already on December 1, even though the World Cup still had 17 days left. Tonight’s 2:4 victory over Costa Rica, which by the way revealed how vulnerable Germany is, was not enough for Mannschaft.
“Hanzi Flick looked stunned after the final whistle and his players turned around on the pitch with panicked faces. Germany’s World Cup disaster is the same as a nightmare from Russia 2018,” Sky Sports Germany wrote, “The dream of a fifth star (a fifth World Cup win) has died under the desert sky The Qatari”.
After the game, Thomas Müller hinted that he is expected to retire from the national uniform after a long service that included, among other things, a brilliant victory in the 2014 World Cup. Things: It was a great pleasure. I did everything in every game and left my heart on the field. Sometimes there were tears of happiness and sometimes of pain. But I always did it with love.”
Other veterans, for example Ilkay Gundogan, Mario Gotze and Manuel Neuer, have not yet elaborated on their plans. Neuer, by the way, tonight became the goalkeeper with the most appearances in the World Cups: 19. He passed Claudio Taparel and Sepp Meyer who have 18 each.
Although many on social media put the blame on Hanzi Flick, the coach said even before the game that even in the event of relegation he does not intend to resign and that he will lead the team in the home Euro in 2024.
After the game, the coach said: “We wanted to score 3-4 goals in the first half, but then we made mistakes. If we had taken advantage of our situations… we would have had 16 of them… but the tournament was not decided for him today. We were not efficient enough in this tournament and that is why we are out.” .