Jürgen Klinsmann has called Germany’s exit from the World Cup at the hands of Paraguay “an embarrassment.”
Julian Nagelsmann’s side were beaten 4-3 on penalties by the South American nation after a 1-1 draw in the round of 32 match.
Klinsmann, who played 108 times for Germany before managing the side to a third-place finish at their home World Cup in 2006, questioned the preparation ahead of Monday’s defeat to Paraguay.
“Obviously it’s a very sad day for all of us in Germany, because we didn’t expect going out in the round of 32,” he told ESPN. “And the way we went out is hugely, hugely disappointing.
“It seemed like the team was not prepared to take control of matters during the 120 minutes. They were not energetic enough, decisive enough, aggressive enough to win this battle with a very strong Paraguayan team, which we knew it’s going to be a difficult game.”
The defeat also represents the first time Germany have ever lost a World Cup match on penalties, having won each of their previous four, against France (1982 semifinals), Mexico (1986 quarterfinals), England (1990 semifinals) and Argentina (2006 quarterfinals).
“At the very end it looked like they were not prepared for a penalty shootout, which for is for us insane, because we love penalty shootouts, usually,” Klinsmann said.
“The way we went out tonight is devastating, is an embarrassment, is something that nobody, nobody expected.”
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Remarkably, Germany have now failed to make the round of 16 in three straight World Cups. The last time the four-time champions made it to that point was in 2014, when they went on to win the competition.
“It’s pretty much as horrible as the exits were in Qatar four years ago, and in Russia eight years ago,” Klinsmann said. “So this takes Germany into a huge, huge hole.”
