Germany crash out in Var farce
Four-time winners’ hopes ended as Japan defeat Spain Decisive goal stands despite claims ball had gone out
Germany were at the centre of a huge Var row after they were knocked out of the World Cup by a highly controversial Japanese goal. Japan’s 2-1 comeback win over
Spain condemned the Germans to an embarrassing early exit, which was branded an “absolute catastrophe” by striker Thomas Muller.
But the decision to allow Japan’s winner to stand thrust Var back into the spotlight as a debate raged last night over whether the ball had gone out of play before Kaoru Mitoma crossed for Ao Tanaka to score six minutes after the restart.
Aerial footage appeared to show very little between the ball and byline while from other angles the ball looked out but, after a lengthy review by the Mexico Var Fernando Guerrero, the goal was given. Germany – who came from 2-1 down to beat Costa Rica 4-2 – would have progressed on goal difference at
Japan’s expense had the goal been disallowed. “From my angle I think the ball was clearly half out but more than that I could not see because of the speed, but I was concentrating on scoring,” Tanaka said.
Fifa was tightlipped about the decision last night but it is understood the goal decision system is only operational between the posts, while the semi-automated technology in the ball was of no use in that instance. Sources said the decision had come down to the judgment of
Guerrero and his assistants, who advised referee Victor Gomes.
Germany have failed to progress from the group stage in successive World Cups, having not previously fallen at the first hurdle since 1938. Muller said their exit was “unbelievably bitter”, while head coach Hansi Flick called for an overhaul of their lauded academy system. “We need to do things differently,” said Flick. “We need the basics”.
On a breathless and bewildering night in the Qatari desert, Germany found humiliation delivered via the cruellest route. Four goals in their final group game should, in any vaguely sensible tournament, have been enough to assure their progress without any spike in blood pressure. But so off-the-charts was the evening’s madcap energy that a win over Costa Rica brought only the bitterest footnote. The reality is that the four-time champions are, for the second consecutive World Cup, out before the knockout phase.
Strewn all over the pitch, German players were ashen, their gazes fixed in the middle distance. Hansi Flick, their emotional flatliner of a manager, sloped off down the tunnel, awaiting a merciless reckoning for this failure. Reactions will veer between sympathy and schadenfreude. Yes, Flick has been horribly exposed on this stage, but in this match he could do nothing more than give his players unconditional licence to attack. They duly obliged and yet fell short, undone by Japan’s extraordinary victory over Spain 35 miles away.
First Germany were through with a minimum of fuss, thanks to Serge Gnabry’s goal. Then a quickfire Costa Rican brace, coupled with a Japanese double in even less time, threw everything into chaos. Germany poured forward, trying to score four, five, 10 if they could. But the shock of the Spanish defeat meant that even the most spectacular late riposte was doomed.
The inquisition will be brutal, although this team is a pale shadow of the predecessors who lifted the trophy in 2014. Thomas Muller is too old, while Mario Gotze makes little impact off the bench any longer. Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz are both lethal finishers in the mood, but in a side this errorprone they found themselves operating in a vacuum.
Muller, at the conclusion of his fourth World Cup, accepted that his international career was likely over as he described his side’s exit as an “absolute catastrophe”. Flick’s days at the helm of Die Mannschaft look to be numbered. While he told German media that he wanted to stay in the job, the decision is unlikely to be his to make. He committed several tactical errors, not least by neglecting to bring a fully fit rightback into the tournament.
It is the most sombre of endings and Germany, their own worst enemies by losing to Japan in the first game, will be haunted by the knowledge that it should never have happened. “We played a big part in ourselves going home,” Flick acknowledged.
His players were visibly distraught. Joshua Kimmich, a diagram of emotional exhaustion, said: “This is the worst day of my career. I’m afraid I’ll fall into a hole. I cannot bear to think that these failures are connected to me personally.”
Within 30 minutes of the final whistle, Flick found himself harangued for his part in the deba
cle, bristling when former midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger put it to him that the team lacked hunger and concentration. “That is absolute nonsense,” he replied, angrily.
The only way for Germany to be masters of their own destiny was to win by eight. Gnabry spearheaded the charge, looping a superb header beyond Keylor Navas to settle the agonies. But the wildness, it turned out, was only just starting. Just as word of Japan’s two quick goals filtered through, the Germans’ task grew even more fraught. Costa Rica were revitalised, with Keysher Fuller’s beautiful cross met by a Kendall Waston header. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer parried but Yeltsin Tejeda swept in from close range.
Flick’s grisliest nightmares had been made flesh. But the torment grew darker as a Joel Campbell free-kick triggered havoc. With the ball loose, Juan Pablo Vargas poked it home via a final touch by Neuer. The equation for Germany was now desperate: either they needed Spain to do them a favour or they needed to resume scoring, fast. Havertz, brought on for Muller amid the panic, took the second option. The Chelsea striker wasted no time fulfilling his task, lifting a shot over the advancing Navas for a goal that, in any other circumstances, he deserved to savour. Except this time, he hared back to the halfway line.
His sense of urgency yielded its reward. No sooner had Gnabry floated in a pass from the right than Havertz was on hand again. The final salvo of an unhinged saga? Not quite. Kimmich’s crossfield ball picked out Leroy Sane, who chested down for Niclas Fullkrug to lash the ball beyond a helpless Navas. The mood was anything but exuberant. With Japan pulling off an againstall-odds upset at Spain’s expense, Germany’s bedraggled players knew that their race was run. Costa Rica ( 3-4-2-1) Navas 8; Duarte 5, Waston 6, Vargas 5; Fuller 7 (Bennette 74), Borges 5, Tejeda 6 (Wilson 90+3), Oviedo 5 (Contreras 90+3); Aguilera 4 (Salas h-t), Campbell 6; Venegas 5 (Matarrita 74). Booked Duarte.
Germany (4-2-3-1) Neuer 7; Kimmich 6, Sule 6 (Ginter 90+3), Rudiger 6, Raum 7 (Gotze 67); Gundogan 7 (Fullkrug 55), Goretzka 6 (Klostermann h-t); Gnabry 8, Musiala 8, Sane 6; Muller 5 (Havertz 67).
Referee Stephanie Frappart (France). Att 67,054.