Despite winning 4-2 against Costa Rica in their final Group E match on Thursday, four-time winners Germany shockingly exited the World Cup at the group stage for the second time in a row.
Germany have come to Qatar motivated to redeem themselves after their shocking group stage exit in 2018. Instead, they placed third overall, tied with Spain on four points but losing on goal differential, and will once again return home early.
Following a 2-1 victory over Spain, Japan, who finished first in Group E with six points, will play Croatia in the round of 16, while Spain will play Morocco. With three points, Costa Rica came in last.
On a night of nonstop action in the desert outside of Doha, the Germans took the lead in the 10th minute through Serge Gnabry, but the Central Americans responded with goals from Yeltsin Tejeda and a Manuel Neuer own goal before Kai Havertz scored twice to put the Germans back in the lead.
In extra time, another replacement, Niclas Fuellkrug, added a fourth, but even that wasn’t enough to extend their World Cup run.
Germany lost both of its opening group games for the first time in their illustrious World Cup history, and despite winning on their final attempt, they will leave Qatar with their heads in the sand.
There are numerous reasons, but Germany’s coach Hansi Flick said, ‘I’m not looking for an explanation. In the first half, I was frustrated and furious with my team for allowing the opposite team to come back.’
‘In the first half, we hoped to score three or four goals, but we committed mistakes. 16 of them, if we had succeeded with those opportunities.’
But today did not determine who will win the tournament. We were eliminated from this event because we lacked effectiveness.
After losing to Japan in their opening group match and then salvaging a 1-1 draw against Spain, Germany entered the game on the verge of being eliminated.
Germany sought an early goal to calm their nerves because they needed to win to prevent a recurrence of the 2018 disaster.
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