Germany crash out on penalties as Nagelsmann faces calls to go

Germany out on penalties after VAR chaos

Your tournament is over. Germany 3–4 Paraguay on penalties after a chaotic night in Foxborough (1) (2) (3) (4). Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade, and Jonathan Tah all missed from the spot. A Jonathan Tah goal was also disallowed after a late VAR intervention, a decision n-tv called "fragwürdig", questionable (6). Three consecutive World Cups, three failures. The BBC called it Germany's "next football nightmare" (17).

Nagelsmann: no resignation

Julian Nagelsmann sees no reason to step down. "Ich finde, die Stimmung hier von den deutschen Fans war top," he said after the match, thanking supporters (14). The statement landed badly. Spox ran a piece calling for his immediate removal: the DFB must not make the same mistake a third time (13).

Voices piling up

Per Mertesacker tore into Nagelsmann, pointing to a quote from the coach that had aged terribly (7). Mats Hummels went further, demanding DFB stars resign and calling for broader consequences (8). ZDF analysts questioned why Woltemade was even on penalty duty (5). Joshua Kimmich, the captain, spoke of "deepest pain" but found big words: "Deutschland stolz machen", make Germany proud (16).

Klopp urges calm

Jürgen Klopp pushed back against the pile-on. Now is not the time to debate Nagelsmann's future, he said (11). It is the lone voice of restraint in a storm.

Paraguay declares a holiday

Paraguay's president Santiago Pena declared a national day off to celebrate the win (12) (14). German media left nothing standing: Belgian outlet Nieuwsblad collected the press reaction under the headline "a downright abysmal performance" (15). Chancellor Friedrich Merz offered words of comfort: "Auch wenn das Ausscheiden schmerzt: Was für ein Spiel!" (14).

Fan reactions

The mood on Reddit is grim. One thread on Nagelsmann's future is drawing heavy traffic, with fans debating whether a third consecutive disaster demands a change in the dugout. The penalty statistic is brutal: Germany became the seventh team in World Cup history to miss three penalties in a single shootout, after missing just one of their previous 18 across four shootouts. Read the discussion here.