01/07/2026 - 7:49 GMT+2
After the national team’s embarrassing World Cup exit, Chancellor Friedrich Merz caused astonishment with a post on the platform X. The chancellor praised the national team: "Even though going out hurts: what a match. With your commitment and team spirit at this World Cup you have thrilled our country. We are proud of you."
Merz’s post drew heavy criticism in the comments. Comedian Oliver Pocher also weighed in under the chancellor’s post on the social media platform Instagram. "I hope the account has been hacked. But that fits the situation in this country," he wrote. There was "nothing to sugarcoat" about the defeat, no one had been enthused. Germany had embarrassed itself and delivered a "catastrophic performance". If a chancellor writes such a completely wrong analysis on Instagram in the middle of the night, Pocher said, you can only worry about how he assesses other issues as well.
Germany captain Kimmich sums up the mood after the World Cup exit as follows: "I know Germany from watching on television as a child – it was always semi-finals, finals. Of course you want to be able to give that to children and people and to the current generation as well. The fact is that we couldn’t give that to everyone back home, and that’s very, very sad, especially at a time when it would do us extremely good in Germany to have something we can be proud of. Unfortunately the national team isn’t that, and we all bear responsibility for it."
