For 44 years, Uli Stielike was the only German man to miss a penalty in a World Cup shootout. Then, in one chaotic night against Paraguay, three of them did it. Kai Havertz hit a tame one. Nick Woltemade somehow hit an even softer one. And Jonathan Tah sent his attempt into the Philadelphia sky — the most damaging miss of them all before Jose Canale sealed Germany’s fate.
This isn’t the Germany anyone grew up watching. The Turniermannschaft, the team that used to outlast everyone, just can’t win knockout games anymore. Their last win in a World Cup knockout round was the 2014 final. Since then they’ve lost to Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Ecuador and Paraguay. That’s five teams that, a decade ago, would have been considered un-German to lose to. Now it’s just what they do.
Another early exit, another coach in the crosshairs
Julian Nagelsmann said after the loss that he’d “love” to keep the job. But it’s hard to see how that happens. Germany has now failed to reach the last 16 of three straight World Cups. That’s not a blip. That’s a pattern.
Nagelsmann had Jurgen Klopp following him around the tournament doing punditry work — an unsubtle reminder that a beloved German coaching icon is available. The verdict on Nagelsmann, fair or not, will be that he got off to spectacular starts and then faded. Germany crushed Scotland 5-1 and Curacao 7-1 in back-to-back tournaments. But they couldn’t beat Paraguay when it mattered.
Against Paraguay, Germany controlled possession and created chances but scored exactly one goal in 120 minutes. A second goal from Tah was waved off, and while Nagelsmann can point to that call, his team had too many problems to blame the refs.
Bringing Manuel Neuer out of retirement backfired. He looked every bit of 40 years old, especially against Ecuador. Nagelsmann’s stubborn faith in Leroy Sane didn’t pay off either. Sane started every game. He scored early against Ecuador but against Paraguay he lost the ball 23 times and completed zero of his seven dribbles. That’s brutal.
Meanwhile, Jamal Musiala sat on the bench. Nagelsmann took heat earlier for not starting Deniz Undav, who scored three goals and added two assists in 56 minutes as a sub. But when Undav started against Paraguay, he was invisible. So maybe Nagelsmann was right to keep him as a super-sub — until he needed a starter and lost that edge.
Bigger problems than one tournament
Germany lost Lennart Karl and Serge Gnabry to injuries before the tournament. Florian Wirtz had a rough debut season at Liverpool. Woltemade struggled at Newcastle. So the personnel issues are real. But step back and the problem might be structural.
Some analysts think Germany’s obsession with possession — a lot of it borrowed from Pep Guardiola’s influence — has sanded off the edges that made them great. This generation has plenty of No. 10s and creative midfielders. But since Miroslav Klose retired, they haven’t had an archetypal German center-forward who just bullies defenders and scores ugly goals.
The fear factor is gone. Teams don’t look at Germany and assume they’ll crack. They look at Germany and think: we can take these guys to penalties. And as Paraguay just showed, that’s a very real path to beating them now.
“Shock is probably a fine word,” Havertz said after the loss. And sure, it was a surprise. But the longer the game went without a second German goal, the more it felt inevitable that their perfect shootout record was about to end. The team that used to outlast everyone else became the first big name to go home. And as strange as it sounds for anyone who remembers the era of German inevitability, that might just be who they are now.
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