The Chancellor of Germany has been subject to derision online following a social media post in which he lauded his national team’s “team spirit” after their World Cup elimination — and claimed that the public were “thrilled.”
Friedrich Merz, who took office in Berlin last year, praised Die Mannschaft shortly after their penalty shootout loss to Paraguay — which continued their torrid three-tournament streak without progression to the round of 16.
“Even if going out hurts: What a match, @DFB_Team!” he said, tagging the German men’s team’s official profile.
“With your commitment and team spirit at this World Cup, you’ve thrilled our country. We are proud of you,” he said.
Such was the number of replies from the German public with the same easy joke did the phrase ‘welches Spiel‘ — meaning ‘what game’ — briefly trend on X in Germany.
Merz followed the post up with a second comment, which read: “We celebrate success together. And in defeat, we stand together. That’s what makes us strong. Anyone who wears the eagle on their chest deserves our support, not our ridicule.”
Indeed, ridicule was rife across the German media following the round-of-32 elimination. Bild, the country’s best-selling tabloid, described both the German exit and Merz’s social post as “embarrassing.”
The Süddeutsche Zeitung, a popular broadsheet, described the result as “the next disgrace,” and in a headline quipped: “So it turns out we can’t do penalty shootouts any more either.”
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Germany exited the tournament in their first ever World Cup shootout loss — as Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah failed from the spot.
Having won the title for the fourth time in 2014, the Germans have since followed that up with two group stage exits and defeat in the new round of 32.
Head coach Julian Nagelsmann said that his side were no longer ‘first-class,” but said that he would not “run away.”
