World Cup: ‘Absolute catastrophe’, says Muller, on Germany’s exit
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DOHA – The German Football Association (DFB) will launch an inquest to identify the reasons for their second successive first-round exit from the World Cup,
The four-time champions beat Costa Rica 4-2 on Thursday but Spain slumped to a 2-1 loss to Japan
“It is unbelievably bitter for us because our result would have been enough,” Muller, who was part of the 2014 World Cup-winning team and was also in the side that was eliminated at the same stage four years ago in Russia, said. “It’s a feeling of powerlessness.”
DFB president Bernd Neuendorf spoke to media on Friday at Doha’s Hamad International Airport as the team prepared to return home and said: “You can imagine that today there is deep disappointment.
“This elimination is extremely painful. But we have to look ahead and so we will lead a process on how to deal with this.”
Germany will host Euro 2024 and following their shock World Cup exit, expectations – and pressure – have just increased many times over.
Neuendorf said a meeting would be held next week with national coach Hansi Flick, team manager Oliver Bierhoff, and German Football league (DFL) chief executive officer Hans-Joachim Watzke to discuss the latest debacle.
“The expectation is for the sporting direction to have a sporting analysis of this tournament and to also develop a prospect for after the tournament and the Euros (2024) on home soil,” Neuendorf said. “It (analysis) must also include the development of the national team since 2018. This is the demand and claim that we have. Then we will have more talks.”
Kai Havertz, who scored two goals after coming off the bench, blamed the team’s performance against Japan
“We have to be honest and say that for four years, everything hasn’t been going well,” he said. “Now we’ve been knocked out twice in the group stage. I don’t think we’re a tournament team any more.”
Germany’s second straight group-stage exit appears shocking, but it should not have been.
Their leaky defence had not kept a clean sheet in a competitive game since the 9-0 win over Liechtenstein in a 2021 World Cup qualifier. Since then, they have conceded 15 goals in 10 competitive games.
Data company Nielsen Gracenote gave them a 41 per cent chance of failing to progress on the back of their recent struggles.
On Thursday, their defence was again shaky, and they had goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to thank for tipping over a close-range shot from Keysher Fuller to preserve the lead Serge Gnabry had given them in the first half with a header.
With Flick realising that they needed to win by a big margin to prolong their stay at the World Cup, big gaps started to appear in the backline.
Without much support, Neuer could do nothing when Yeltsin Tejeda thundered the ball past him, while he saved a header from Juan Pablo Vargas but the ball deflected off him and into the net.
In attack, Germany have always had a focal-point striker. But, since Miroslav Klose and Mario Gomez retired, no one has filled the void. The Germans have opted to play with false nines instead of a clear-cut centre forward and it has not worked.
What happened in Qatar will not come as a huge surprise to those who had kept a close eye on Germany’s build-up. Flick was forced to include inexperienced duo Niklas Fullkrug, 29, and Youssoufa Moukoko, 18.
Germany created many chances against Japan but lacked accuracy in front of goal.
Despite knowing that goal difference could come into the equation, Flick’s team selection bewildered some pundits who believed he should have selected Fullkrug – who set up Germany’s second goal for Havertz and scored the fourth goal – in his starting XI.
The coach called for urgent changes to Germany’s football youth development.
“We have players who play with top clubs and we do have the quality (but) I believe that for the future of German football, we need to do things differently in training,” he said. REUTERS, AFP
