Germany Football team captain, Joshua Kimmich recently opened up to Magenta TV over Germany's loss in the Round 32 of FIFA World Cup 2026. Germany lost the knockout match to Paraguay on June 30th 2026. Kimmich spoke to Magenta TV and said that he believed they (Germany) deserved the defeat as they had already lost three matches to teams that were not “world-class”.
“We deserved to be eliminated. It feels terrible.We struggled badly in all three matches against teams that aren't world-class”. The skipper did not blame the manager Julian Nagelsman rather took the blame upon himself and the team and protected the head coach from the critics.
The German player, forced the focus of the post-mortem entirely onto player underperformance. "We, the players on the pitch, messed up and we assume the responsibility. It wasn't the coach, it wasn't the media, it wasn't the referee, it wasn't the opponent. It was just us," he said.
The most inflammatory part of Kimmich's interview was his blunt assessment of the teams Germany failed to break down. He openly stated that the level of competition they struggled against was mediocre by elite international standards, "It feels awful. We didn't play well against any opponent. On three occasions we had major problems against teams that are not world-class. That's a fact. We fully deserved to be eliminated.” Germany were scraped by Ivory Coast, collapsed to a 2-1 defeat against Ecuador, and were fundamentally suffocated by Paraguay’s deep defensive block.
Germany crash out after Paraguay triumph in dramatic penalty shootout
On June 30th 2026, in the Round 32 knockout match between Germany and Paraguay, Germany dominated possession with 75% of the ball and completed 699 passes at Boston Stadium, yet they failed to pierce a resolute Paraguayan defensive block [The Analyst]. Paraguay struck first against the run of play in the 42nd minute when Julio Enciso headed home a cross. Germany equalised in the 54th minute when Kai Havertz converted a pass from Florian Wirtz. Despite taking 21 shots and earning 16 corners, Germany struggled with slow ball circulation. In extra time, the referee disallowed a late goal by Jonathan Tah after a VAR review spotted a foul on Paraguay's goalkeeper.
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The match moved to a penalty shootout, where Germany collapsed for the first time in their World Cup history. Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill saved early penalties from Havertz and Nick Woltemade. Manuel Neuer kept German hopes alive when he saved Fabián Balbuena’s spot-kick, but Tah blasted Germany’s sixth penalty over the crossbar. José Canale then scored the winning penalty to send Paraguay into the Round of 16. The defeat sealed Germany's third consecutive early World Cup exit. After the match, captain Joshua Kimmich delivered a scathing assessment to the media. He took full responsibility on behalf of the squad, protected manager Julian Nagelsmann, and openly admitted that the team deserved elimination after struggling against opponents who lacked world-class status.
