Four-time World Cup winners Germany have crashed out of the group stage at the 2022 World Cup after what became a meaningless 4-2 win over Costa Rica after Japan stunned Group E and finished ahead of the pack on the back of their 2-1 win against Spain.
The ghosts of 2018 returned on the playing surfaces of Qatar this winter during a period of renewed frustration for Germany and head coach Hansi Flick after a repeat of the disappointment in Russia four years ago has been matched – if not outdone – after an opening group loss to Japan and a draw against Spain saw Germany bottom of the group coming into the final day and needing assistance on all fronts if they were to reverse their fortunes.
With the nation hosting Euro 2024, questions will be asked after a disappointing recent cycle in the UEFA Nations League saw alarm bells sound but no one answered the myriad of questions that cropped up after Germany finished behind Italy and Hungary, only to follow up their performances with a worrying 1-0 win over Oman in their only warm-up match before hostilities commenced.
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) December 1, 2022
For Flick and co., there is much to reflect on after the disappointment with no answers yet to be found. “The disappointment is huge.” according to the former Bayern Munich manager. “I can’t blame Spain. I never look at other teams. We only have ourselves to blame, we had enough chances, especially against Japan and also against Spain at the end of the game.”
Asked whether or not he would resign, Flick responded “We’ll work that out quickly, it’s difficult to answer now right after the game when we’re eliminated. We’ll see about that very soon.”
And when it comes to the further development of the German player pool, the top boss in the country eluded to struggles in defense in Qatar being targeted moving forward’ “We need to get better at player development. We’ve been crying out for number 9s and strong full-backs for years. Defending has distinguished German football for years. We need to get back to the basics.”
Joshua Kimmich: “This was the worst day of my career. I’m afraid I’ll fall into a hole. It makes you think that these failures are connected to my person” [@SPORT1] pic.twitter.com/3FKd3bg6do
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) December 1, 2022
He continued; “I joined in 2016. Before that, we’d always been to the semis. Then we got eliminated twice in the groups. Being associated with failure is not something you want to stand for. I wasn’t able to help the team. We’re going back home and I’m afraid of falling into a hole.”
SV Werder Bremen hitman Niclas Füllkrug, who was a bright spark off the bench for Germany against both Spain and Costa Rica but was not deemed good enough to start despite his matchday two heroics had much to say as well. “We didn’t go out of the group stage because of today. We had a lot of problems with Japan. That was the decisive game. It hurts very much, it’s extremely difficult to digest. It’s going to take a very, very, very long time to digest this.”
Thankfully for Germany, hosting Euro 2024 allows the national team setup to be given a review top to bottom regarding how to right the wrongs of another shocking set of circumstances that the program will hopefully are put to bed before starring in front of home support in two years’ time.
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