Foxborough, June 30 (IANS) Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann did not mince words after his side’s shocking exit from the FIFA World Cup 2026 and said “slow build-up play” cost the four-time champions a place in the round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Germany’s campaign came to a dramatic end at the Boston Stadium on Tuesday after they were knocked out 4-3 on penalties by Paraguay in the Round of 32, following a 1-1 deadlock in regulation time.

Germany had never lost on penalties at the FIFA World Cup. After being down and out seemingly, Manuel Neuer got them back on level terms, only for Paraguay to finally seize their third spot-kick shot at reaching the last 16.

“There’s a real sense of dejection in the dressing room. Unfortunately, that’s how football works sometimes; some teams can win with simple means. And you have to defend against those means consistently. We took too long to make our opponent chase the game. We could have put the ball into the box far more often. We have to settle the game before it gets to penalties.

“Our build-up play was too slow, and then at some point we resorted to a more direct, brute-force approach. We had a lot of set pieces and need to approach the game differently, but we didn’t manage to do that.

Kai Havertz, whose opening penalty in the shootout was saved, admitted that Germany fell short despite having played well in the tournament.

“I’m a little lost for words. This is my second World Cup and both times it came to nothing. All I can do is apologise. I thought we didn’t play bad football at the last few tournaments, but something was always missing. And it was the same today. We have to take a hard look at ourselves, especially the players, and I’m leaving the coach out of that,” he said after the loss.

–IANS

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