For Germany fans the unthinkable has happened. Not only another early exit at a major tournament but a first World Cup penalty shootout loss.
As the dust settles the question every fan is asking is will the German Football Association take the plunge and sack head coach Julian Nagelsmann and bring in Jurgen Klopp.
Nagelsmann, the 38-year-old former Bayern Munich boss, refused to quit following Germany’s painful last-32 defeat by Paraguay, saying “I’m not someone who runs away”.
But the German fans are in need of hope and Nagelsmann simply cannot provide that at this moment.
He hasn’t done himself any favours with the way he communicates in public – easily irritable and brash. Meanwhile charismatic Klopp, the former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund boss, has been a star pundit on German TV during the World Cup, being his usual funny and charming self.
Fans know that you cannot simply replace 20 players, but you can replace the manager.
When Germany fans woke up on Tuesday morning, they surely felt embarrassed about what happened in Boston against Paraguay.
Since their most recent World Cup success in 2014, Germany have twice failed to make it out of the group stage – in 2018 and 2022 – and lost in the first knockout match of the 2026 finals.
Domestically German football is booming. Bundesliga stadiums are packed; even third-division games attract tens of thousands of spectators each weekend. But a great football nation is in danger of falling behind on the international stage. Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Bayern Munich’s latest rising star Lennart Karl are among a new crop of players that can excite fans, but the depth of extraordinary talent does not exist in Germany at this point in time.
Credit: bbc
