Enlarge image
Antonio Rüdiger is sitting alone on the lawn of the Al Bait Stadium after the World Cup
Photo:
Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
The smallest differences:
If the groundskeeper at the Chalifa International Stadium in Doha had drawn the field boundaries a little thinner, football Germany would be celebrating the resurrection of its own national team at the moment.
Perhaps the displeasure at the World Cup would give way to the first motorcades in some cities, and national coach Hansi Flick would be praised for having improved his team from game to game.
But that thick, white goalline at Qatar's national stadium allowed Japan's Kaoru Mitoma to put the ball across for Ao Tanaka.
Tanaka, who plays second-rate at Fortuna Düsseldorf in Germany, shot his blue samurai to a sensational win against Spain (51st minute) – and Germany in a long-distance duel out of the tournament.
The result:
Despite being behind, the German team managed to defeat Costa Rica 4:2 (1:0).
But because of these Japanese, who first won the direct duel and now also defeated the top favorites Spain, the bottom line is the second preliminary round at a World Cup in a row.
A German debacle.
Here is the match report.
One against 80 million:
The job of the national coach is twice as difficult during the World Cup: Not only do you have to adapt the formation and tactics to the opponent and the form of your own players.
You shouldn't let yourself be carried away by the numerous voices from home.
Flick seemed to have completely ignored the public debate about who had to be on the bench for Niclas Füllkrug, the hero of the Spain game: Bremen remained a reservist.
A little lame must be:
And not only that: In order to make room for Leroy Sané, Joshua Kimmich was quickly converted to right-back in the back four.
This had not happened in the national team since the defeat against South Korea at the 2018 World Cup.
It remains Kimmich's destiny, like his predecessor Philipp Lahm, to be the best player Germany has available both centrally and on the right defensive end.
The eight must stand:
Yes, there was a way that Germany could have made it through to the round of 16 without Spanish support.
Only nobody wanted to talk about him out of respect for Costa Rica.
An 8:0 against the underdog from Central America - and progress would have been certain.
For 15 minutes, the DFB-Elf made this attempt seem conceivable, with chances every minute: Jamal Musiala (2nd minute), Thomas Müller with a diving header (9th).
Then Serge Gnabry with the lead (10th), and immediately the sprint with the ball to the center line, as if the Bayern professional wanted to say: Come on, boys, only seven more.
Music played again and again:
There was no necessary target shooting, even though the DFB team played effortlessly into the dangerous areas.
Costa Rica couldn't get hold of Jamal Musiala in particular, the 19-year-old was repeatedly found between the lines.
After 90 minutes plus added time, Musiala had hit the post twice, had three shots on goal and had the ball on his feet 24 times in the penalty area – a World Cup record since data collection began in 1966.
New record:
And a DFB professional set another record: Captain Manuel Neuer is now officially the record goalkeeper for the World Cup with his 19th appearance at a World Cup.
Whether there will be more games for the 35-year-old in four years is an open question.
The last appearance up to this point was not a brilliant performance: A strong rescue effort against Keysher Fuller after mistakes by Antonio Rüdiger and David Raum (43rd) was opposed by a weak defensive action in front of the Costa Rican leadership, which FIFA ultimately even rated as an own goal (70th minute). .).
First Japan 2.0...
In any case, the second half showed weaknesses against the Ticos, which had already been indicated in the defeat against Japan.
As at the start of the World Cup, the DFB team lost all control of the game after İlkay Gündoğan was removed, the back four were missing at least one fixed point next to Antonio Rüdiger, and the German team looked immature and vulnerable in the backward movement.
...then Spain 2.0
: In its current condition, the team urgently needs an attack that, in the style of later Kai Havertz and the filling pitcher who came on as a substitute against Spain, creates the many chances - 23 goals per game are by far the top value of all World Cup Participants – also exploit.
Because: A tournament-ready defensive looks different.
A perfectly normal Thursday:
Incidentally, Stéphanie Frappart wrote football history, the Frenchwoman was the first woman to officiate a game at a men's World Cup.
The casualness of this performance is to be credited to Frappart: it paved the way for the sport.
She only became a protagonist in emergencies, for example to put her foot down in a squabble between Kai Havertz and Kendall Waston (73rd) or in the final phase when she confidently moderated the video evidence of Füllkrug's goal to make it 4-2 despite a defective radio connection.
Different tasks:
Japan will now face Croatia in the round of 16, Spain will meet Morocco in the Mediterranean neighborhood duel.
And Germany?
Has almost two years to be competitive again in time for the home European Championship.
To do this, Flick »only« has to find and deploy a reliable goalscorer, fundamentally stabilize the back four and ensure that the team does not always collapse as soon as one of the few world-class players in Gündoğan is eliminated.
All this, that much is certain, will not be an easy task even without the objections of the other 80 million national coaches.