Japan's Ao Tanaka scores their second goal .
Japan’s win against Spain sent Germany home. Japan had previously defeated Germany in another come from behind win.
Posted on 12/01/2022 5:37:02 PM PST by nickcarraway
Hansi Flick said German football will "head into a different direction, and very soon" after the four-time world champions suffered a second successive World Cup group stage elimination, described as an "absolute catastrophe" by forward Thomas Muller.
Despite a 4-2 win against Costa Rica at Al Bayt Stadium, Japan's 2-1 victory against Spain in Doha ended Germany's hopes of qualifying from Group E.
A 2-1 defeat against Japan in their opening game at Qatar 2022 ultimately proved costly for Germany, who are due to host Euro 2024 in just over 18 months.
And with that tournament looming large, Flick, who did not address his own future as coach, said that big changes will be made to ensure Germany are competitive at Euro 2024.
"In light of the Euros, it is difficult to talk about that right now, but we need to assess our World Cup, head into a different direction," Flick said. "This is the next step we will take, and we will do it very soon.
"We can get up quickly and recover. We will see what the future looks like and how we can implement our ideas. I am a very critical person and we will assess everything."
One part of Germany's "different direction" is likely to see World Cup winners such as Muller, Manuel Neuer and Mario Gotze phased out of the international team.
Muller, whose World Cup debut came in South Africa in 2010, admitted the early exit from this tournament was tough to take.
"It's an absolute catastrophe," Muller said. "It is unbelievably bitter for us because our result would have been enough [if Spain hadn't lost to Japan]. It's a feeling of powerlessness.
"If that was my last game for Germany, it has been a tremendous pleasure, thank you very much."
Spain's failure to avoid defeat against Japan was decisive for Germany, but Flick said his team had nobody but themselves to blame for their elimination.
"I don't care about different teams, it's all up to us," Flick said. "If you look at the games and number of goals that were our fault, I am convinced that we gave away our chances against Spain and Japan.
"You have to take your chances and score goals. If we had, it would have been a different story. There were lots of individual mistakes in the games and it made me very angry. I told the team I was upset.
"But I am not looking for excuses. We fulfilled our duty today, we got the win, but the scoreline could have been better."
No.
U.S. uber alles.
U.S. is in the final 16, Germany is at home eating schnitzel.
Are they crying in their beer?
Germany has bigger problems this winter. Like keeping warm.
Exactly! I hope that Brazil and the US fail. I would kind of like to see Japan win it all!
Japan’s win against Spain sent Germany home. Japan had previously defeated Germany in another come from behind win.
Let them freeze.
I am not a soccer fan but I watched a little World Cup like many Americans. It appears to me that there’s not much difference between teams anymore because everyone has access to the same coaches and conditioning. At least in basketball and baseball, there’s more of an athlete and skill factor which is just not there in soccer. Soccer is a game of chance. You make a mistake, you lose. No one makes a mistake, the game ends up in a 0-0 tie (USA vs England)
That doesn’t mean they’re better.
What group you’re in matters.
Spain “losing” to Japan matters.
Doesn’t really matter. Neither Germany nor the US had/have a chance of winning.
In the United States, the best athletes go into football, basketball, hockey, and even other sports. That drains a lot of the best potential athletes. Other countries, the best athletes mostly go into soccer.
The Europeans are such drama queens over a game of kickball.
The world, which is SOOOO woke and enlightened, spits at America and calls us neaderthals because, among other things, we own guns and ban abortion.
Germany is now having a Group Cry over their failure. Iran may execute their players for failing.
America is through to the sweet 16 or whatever the heck they call it. And we do not care.
Somehow, this all makes sense to me.
I’m mildly interested.I’m inclined to see it in terms of countries I respect...and countries I hate. I respect England,Canada,Japan,South Korea and a few others.I hate Iran,Brazil,Germany,Spain and a few others.
I’m just hoping the results extract maximum butthurt from all those wonderfully woke countries who consider us pleonasm knaves.
Just not true, in the slightest. Ask all the NBA players who are huge soccer fans if there is skill involved in soccer. If you've ever seen world class soccer players up close playing you would not be saying this.
She is pan-lingual and always perfect.
Thought I heard Mexico is out too. An own goal....they will get you killed in South America.
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