Germany out of 2026 World Cup: What went wrong? (Jonathan Harding, 6/30/26, Deitsche-Welle)
Firstly, key players did not deliver on the field. Captain Joshua Kimmich underwhelmed. Florian Wirtz appeared to carry his poor club form into the World Cup. Jamal Musiala looked like a player desperately trying to get back into form after a long injury lay off. It was far too disappointing from far too many players who needed to deliver to keep the group together.
Collectively, Germany were shaky in defense and lacked penetration and decisiveness in attack. They did not go a game at this tournament without conceding, and other than against Curacao, failed to transfer promising passages into powerful performances.
Injuries certainly didn’t help. Losing Serge Gnabry before the tournament was a blow. To then see Lennart Karl suffer a major injury in Chicago just days before the tournament start really stopped Germany in their tracks, as the Bayern teenager looked set to shine down the right-hand side. Nico Schlotterbeck being ruled out for months during the first half of the Ivory Coast game was perhaps the biggest loss of all, though. The Borussia Dortmund defender was an integral part of Germany’s play, particularly in the build-up which Nagelsmann said was “too slow” against Paraguay.
Then there’s Julian Nagelsmann. His decision to recall 40-year-old Manuel Neuer did not prove, despite a save in the shootout against Paraguay, to be the factor he made it out to be. His substitutions suggested a coach still searching for his best 11. Against Ecuador, with the group already won, his changes left Germany disjointed and wiped away any hope of maintaining their momentum into the knockouts. Even though this Germany team were not contenders, it would also be fair to say that Nagelsmann appeared to struggle to get the best out of this group.