‘DESERVED’ TO BE ELIMINATED

Germany manager Joachim Low said his team got what they deserved after their historic elimination from the group stage of the 2018 World Cup yesterday.

Germany, champions in 2014, lost 2-0 to the already eliminated South Korea to conclude a woeful defence of the title. It means the four-time World Cup winners finished bottom of Group F on goal difference. Sweden topped the group after their 3-0 win over Mexico, who qualified as runners-up.

“The disappointment of being eliminated is just huge,” Low said.

“I think first of all we need to congratulate our two opponents who have made it out of the group.

“At this tournament we didn’t deserve to win again or move to the round of 16. We were eliminated not because we didn’t want to win but we never had the chance to take a lead at any point – we were always lagging behind, trying to keep up.

“We saw Sweden had taken the lead so we needed to keep the pressure up but our team was missing the ease of play and the classiness we usually have. So, we deserve to be eliminated, yes.”

Defender Mats Hummels lamented a frustrating night for Germany and insists their shock defeat to Korea could not be blamed on a lack of effort.

“It is a really, really bitter evening for us,” he said.

“We did not put the ball in the net, even though we had plenty of opportunities, including myself in the 86th minute – I have to score from chances like that.

“It is a very bitter evening for us and for all German football fans. We believed in it until the very end. We tried to shoot, but we just couldn’t get the ball in.

“We had plenty of opportunities, we broke our necks trying out there today.”