Germany players have admitted that they did not do enough to reach the knockout rounds of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
The 2014 champions were eliminated at the group phase for the second consecutive World Cup despite their 4-2 win over Costa Rica last night.
Japan defeated Spain 2-1 to win Group C, with the 2010 champions finishing in second place, ahead of Germany on goal difference.
“We weren’t expecting that result from the Spain match, but at the end of the day, we had enough chances against Japan and Spain to have won those two games,” said Chelsea forward Kai Havertz, who came off the bench to score twice for Germany last night.
“We deserve to be going out, though. With the quality we’ve got, we shouldn’t be losing to Japan.”
Havertz’s teammates agreed with that sentiment.
“We just weren’t on the ball in that first match, and when you’ve only got three games, you can’t afford for that to happen,” said Niclas Fullkrug, who also netted against Costa Rica.
“As a player though, I feel that we came together well as a team but perhaps we weren’t 100 per cent ready.”
“There wasn’t much talk in the dressing room. Deathly silence,”Jonas Hofmann noted, giving an insight into the mood of the camp after the match.
“The result of the Spain versus Japan match doesn’t really matter, because we should have won against Japan and even beaten the Spanish at the end of the day. So you have to say that we only have ourselves to blame.”
Meanwhile, Germany head coach Hansi Flick is willing to carry on with the job despite the humiliating exit.
When asked about his future, Flick told broadcaster ARD: “We weren’t anywhere near efficient enough in this tournament, and that’s why we’ve gone out.
“We’re hugely disappointed and we need to process that before we do anything else. I believe in my coaching staff and I’ve put in some good work, but it just wasn’t enough at the end of the day.”
