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Germany didn’t just crash out of the World Cup Monday night. For some, the defeat looked like something bigger: yet another national institution losing its nerve.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup champion, which has struggled at every major tournament since 2016, suffered a bruising defeat against Paraguay, losing 3-4 on penalties to be dumped out of the tournament hosted in the Americas.
But Die Mannschaft is not the only German national institution failing to live up to expectations.
“This national team plays the way this federal government governs: big on ambition, short on resolve. Everyone struggles on their own, no one takes responsibility, and when luck finally does appear, the goal doesn’t count,” wrote German Member of the European Parliament Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann on X, referring to a controversially disallowed goal made during overtime, which would have brought Germany victory.
