AL KHOR: Despite a 4-2 victory over Costa Rica in their final Group E match on Thursday, Germany, the four-time champions, sensationally failed to advance to the World Cup, falling at the first hurdle for the second time in a row.
After their shocking exit from the group stage in 2018, Germany had arrived in Qatar with the intention of redeeming their reputation.Instead, they came in third place in the standings, tied with Spain for fourth place on points but behind on goal difference, so they’ll have to leave early once more.
Following their 2-1 victory over the Spaniards, Japan topped Group E with six points. They will play Croatia in the last 16 while Spain will play Morocco.Costa Rica came in last place with three points.
On a night of unrelenting drama in the desert near Doha, the Germans scored first in the 10th minute through Serge Gnabry. However, the Central Americans responded with two goals from Yeltsin Tejeda and an own goal from Manuel Neuer before Kai Havertz scored twice to put them back in control.
Niclas Fuellkrug, a fellow substitute, scored a fourth in extra time, but it wasn’t enough to keep them in the World Cup.
Germany failed to win any of their first two group matches for the first time in their illustrious World Cup history, and despite winning on their final attempt, they will be leaving Qatar with their heads down.
Hansi Flick, the coach of Germany, stated, “There are so many reasons, but I am not looking for excuses.”I was very disappointed and enraged at my team for allowing the opponent to come back in the first half.
“We made mistakes after the first half and wanted to score three or four goals.16 of those chances would have been taken advantage of.
“However, the tournament was not settled for us today.We were eliminated from this tournament due to our lack of efficiency.
After drawing 1-1 with Spain and losing their first group match to Japan, Germany was on the verge of elimination going into the game.
Germany went looking for an early goal to calm their nerves because they needed a victory to avoid another defeat like the one in 2018.
In the second minute, one-way traffic Jamal Musiala put goalkeeper Keylor Navas to the test with a low drive, and Thomas Mueller should have done much better when Joshua Kimmich picked him out, but he couldn’t keep his header on target.
However, in the tenth minute, Gnabry scored with a glancing header to put them ahead.
In the first 45 minutes, Costa Rica rarely crossed into the German half, needing at least a point to advance.
The Germans kept creating chances in an effort to make up for their terrible start to the tournament, but they failed to convert them once more, as they had in the previous two group matches.
They were almost punished when Keysher Fuller took advantage of two mistakes made by the defense, but Neuer, who was playing in his 19th World Cup appearance, saved his shot from going over the crossbar.
Germany gradually became nervous as the group standings appeared on the Al Bayt stadium’s big screen, and Musiala twice hit the post early in the second half.
After first preventing a Kendall Waston header, Neuer saved nothing when Tejeda smashed the ball past him on the rebound 13 minutes after the restart.
In the 70th minute, Juan Pablo Vargas appeared to have bundled the ball over the line, but the effort was later credited as an own goal by Neuer, which made matters worse.
Havertz, a substitute, scored twice in 12 minutes and Fuellkrug added another in the final minute, but it was too little, too late for Germany, which will host Euro 2024 after three consecutive flop performances at international tournaments.
