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Manuel Neuer has long had the habit of clipping and taking home a piece of the goal net as a personal souvenir after the final of a major tournament.At Foxborough’s Boston Stadium, as the 40-year-old goalkeeper dived the wrong way and watched Jose Canale bury the decisive penalty to seal Germany’s ouster by Paraguay, there was a haunting sense of inevitability to it all.
Having been coaxed out of retirement by Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann, Neuer’s long stint with the national team — his 23rd World Cup appearance and 128th international cap — finally came to an end in hollow silence.Germany had their moments of salvation, especially when Neuer saved Fabian Balbuena’s shot to keep the penalty shootout at 3-3. But Bayern defender Jonathan Tah — who had never taken a penalty for club or country during a match before — suffered a Roberto Baggio moment, skewing his kick over the bar and leaving Canale and Paraguay to steal the show.This was Germany’s first World Cup defeat in a penalty shootout, having won their previous four, and only their second such failure at a major tournament after the Euro 1976 final half a century ago.Seldom have Germany looked more unGerman than in this act of self-destruction on the game’s grandest stage. The crown so dearly won at the Maracana in 2014 has now turned to dust in Boston, a stark expression of the emptiness that has followed.
Since conquering Rio de Janeiro, they have failed to make it out of the group stage twice — in 2018 and 2022 — and have now stumbled in the first knockout round.Grief is ghastly and immovable; at the sharp end, it feels profound and intractable. In Germany’s case, it comes with the painful realisation that they are no longer good enough to restore their lost aura of impeccability. That almost feverish ritual of dusting themselves down in times of adversity, that fierce pride in being the eternal ‘Turniermannschaft’, the tournament team, has vanished.“This is now our third elimination in a row, so we are not part of the first-class teams any more,” manager Nagelsmann admitted bluntly after the loss to Paraguay. Kai Havertz echoed the sentiment. “I don’t think we played bad football, but something’s missing in the team.”Yet the statistics make this new normal look almost absurd. On Monday, Germany had 76% possession, completed 725 passes to Paraguay’s 160 and registered 21 shots to their opponents’ 7.
Un-German? Perhaps yes. And who else but Pep Guardiola to blame? Several stalwarts, including 2014 World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger, have argued that Pep’s arrival at Bayern Munich in 2013 triggered a paradigm shift in German football’s style.
With the national team heavily dependent on Bayern personnel, and the Bundesliga powerhouse’s control-based, short-passing game becoming the focal point, Germany lost their almost religious adherence to fighter mentality and the ruthless pursuit of clinical results built on defensive discipline.Having seemed to usher in a new world order in 2014, Germany had since hoped to radiate a sense of surprise. But their game has never quite mustered the conviction or clarity to make that leap feel realistic. The 7-1 demolition of Curacao in their opener proved a false dawn, and they hardly looked settled into any coherent rhythm. It was almost as if the idea of a new-look Germany had come at a price.Neuer is now gone. With him, captain Joshua Kimmich (31), Antonio Rüdiger (33), Leon Goretzka (31), Leroy Sane (30) and Pascal Gross (35) could also face an exit if Germany seek out the reset button.But just what will Germany reset to? As they say, the devil in this context is in the details.
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