Reactions to the German World Cup: “Shocked, unbelievable, absolute catastrophe”

Hansi Flick (national coach): “I’m not speechless. I can interpret the game quite well. I was really angry after the first half. How we made the opponent strong. We had endless chances to score three or four goals. Through frivolity we have made the enemy strong. The end didn’t decide today, it was 20 minutes against Japan. We could have made it 2-1 against Spain too. We didn’t have any efficiency in this tournament. Of course the disappointment is huge, we have to work through that first. Now it’s about working through things in the coaching team and then looking ahead again. It wasn’t a long World Cup for us. So we still have grains in the quiver. We will do the analysis very quickly. Our performance was not sufficient.”

Oliver Bierhoff (DFB Director): “The disappointment is of course huge. If you saw the three games and summed it up, it was in our hands to survive in this group. Those 20 minutes against Japan cost us a lot. We are shocked, unbelievable, because of course we believed in the chance. It’s not about pointing fingers, who’s to blame here. It’s been two or three years since we’ve got games under control, giving them up, losing the thread. In the end, that could also be seen in the group.”

“I’m not asking myself the question of my future at the moment. Of course I know these questions will come. Maybe if you look at my entire balance sheet from 18 years, I’m not too worried, I have a very good feeling about myself. Of course, other people have to judge that. Of course, after three bad tournaments, I don’t have any good arguments against it. I have to accept that.”

“Hansi Flick is a top trainer. If you look at the games, they really did a lot of good things. In the end it was a tight box. The constellation was unfortunate in the end, it was a bit too little. But there is no doubt about Hansi for me.”

Kai Havertz: “We didn’t expect the result that Spain did. But we have to take care of ourselves. With quality like that, we can’t lose against Japan. The game against Japan ruined everything. I think after going 1-0 up we had the feeling we could do better. But we didn’t make it. Of course, nobody expected it to be so unfortunate. We brought it on ourselves by conceding two goals in 15 minutes against Japan that didn’t go. German football is not second class. It was clear that the boys would be celebrated as a tournament team after winning the 2014 World Cup. Now we’re knocked out twice in the group stage, so it’s clear that we’re not a tournament team. We had a great team, a great team behind the team. We gave everything. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”

Thomas Müller: “We put a lot of effort into it and couldn’t keep our positions perfectly. We lost discipline a bit. But we were in the urge phase the whole time. The effort that the team put into winning this game was enormous. It is incredibly bitter for us that Japan managed to defeat the Spanish. It’s a bit of a faint feeling. We’ve done our homework. The whole misfortune happened with the result against Japan. We can’t influence Spain’s game. The disappointment is enormous. We had a really good feeling after the game against Spain. It’s an absolute disaster. I don’t know how things will continue either.”

“If that was my last game for Germany, then I would like to say a few words to all the German football fans who have accompanied me over the years. It was an enormous pleasure. Dear people, thank you very much. We have had incredible moments together. I tried to keep my heart on the field in every game. Delivered to all uses. Sometimes there was a new trend through my actions, sometimes the spectators had pain in their faces because the actions didn’t work out. I did it with love You can be sure of that. I have to see everything else first.”

Niclas Füllkrug: “A slightly higher lead at the break would have helped us. Then we would have taken the fun out of Costa Rica. After the 1:0 something was missing the further crushing. We didn’t make it through the group stage because of today. We had a lot of problems against Japan. That was the decisive game day. It hurts extremely, it’s extremely difficult to digest. This is going to take a very, very, very long time to digest.”

Sami Khedira: “I’m speechless, disappointed and angry. I am shocked.”

Michael Ballack: “We certainly would have expected support from the Spaniards. Even if it wasn’t a good game, we did our homework. Nevertheless we are eliminated. It’s sobering and emblematic of how we’ve been playing football over the last few years. That’s where we have to start, we have to question: Is that the kind of football we want to play? The last three tournaments have shown us that we won’t get very far with this type of football. We see it in the teams that are less talented but pose problems for us.”