German Media Lash Out After Germany’s World Cup Exit to Paraguay

German newspapers and commentators reacted with severe criticism after the national team’s 2‑0 defeat to Paraguay that eliminated Germany from the World Cup. Bild headlined the result as “the next German football nightmare,” while columnist Marion Horn called Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s supportive tweet a “catastrophe” and “disastrous.” Horn added that the loss, the coach’s tactics and the players’ performance are “symptomatic of the country’s overall condition.”

Other outlets echoed the backlash. Die Welt’s Ulrich Poshard wrote that Germany was “eliminated far too early,” and Kicker described the match as “a condemnatory critique of German football and Nagelsmann.” Former champion Lothar Matthäus was also quoted, and the sports daily ZDF Zeitung ran the headline “Someone has to tell Julian Nagelsmann: this cannot continue.” Overall, the media narrative framed the defeat as evidence of a broader decline in German football, targeting coach Julian Nagelsmann and questioning the team’s future prospects.