South Korea

Young-Gwon Kim 90 +1:07

Heung-Min Son 90 +5:51

Germany

1. Report
2. Min-by-min
3. Stats

Germany crash out of World

Cup group stage after defeat
to South Korea
Jonathan Wilson at the
Kazan Arena
Thu 28 Jun 2018 01.58 AEST

Dejected Germany players following their defeat to South Korea. Photograph:

 Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

This, then, is how the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper. There are certain
events so apocalyptic that it feels they cannot just happen. They should be signalled
beneath thunderous skies as owls catch falcons and horses turn and eat themselves. At the
very least there should be a sense of fury, of thwarted effort, of energies exhausted. And yet
Germany went out of the World Cup in the first round for the first time in 80 years on a
pleasantly sunny afternoon with barely a flicker of resistance. There was no Sturm. There
was no Drang.

Germany had come to this World Cup not merely as defending champions but also as
winners of the last summer’s Confederations Cup – with what was in effect a second string.
The overhaul of their academy system was the envy of the world, talent production on an
industrial scale. And yet, called upon to score a goal against a disappointing South Korea
side who had already lost to Sweden and Mexico, that had lost in qualifying to Qatar and
China, they struggled to create a chance.

In the end it was VAR that undid them, Kim Young-gwon’s shot that had initially been ruled
out for offside given as a goal when it was realised the ball had been played to him by Toni
Kroos. And then, even after that, there was a beautiful farce of a goal, Manuel Neuer caught
in possession miles upfield as Son Heung-min chased on to Ju Se-jong’s long ball and rolled
the ball into an empty net. It was as though football itself was having its joke, the sweeper-
keeper who had been such an asset four years ago turned into a liability.

Germany are the fourth of the last five world champions to go out in the group phase but
this was as limp a defence as any side had managed. There was no defining defeat, as Spain
had suffered to the Netherlands, just a whole load of baffling mundanity. There was a
chance, three minutes from time, to steal a goal as they had stolen a late winner against
Sweden in the second game but, presented with a free header eight yards out, Mats
Hummels somehow misjudged his effort to the extent that the ball looped wide off his
shoulder.

Jogi Löw, the Germany coach, had acknowledged that while the Sweden game was an
improvement, his side had still had problems in defensive transition, too often leaving the
two central defenders exposed. His solution was to bring Leon Goretzka on to the right of
the 4-2-3-1, while restoring Mesut Özil and Sami Khedira, who had both been left out of the
win over the Swedes.

It gives some indication of the difficulties Germany have had that only three outfielders
started all three games. Thomas Müller, who has been struggling for form for a couple of
years, was one of the latest sacrifices, the first time he had been left out of a tournament
game by Germany since the semi-final of Euro 2012.

Neuer has also started all three games despite not having played for Bayern since
September, when he fractured a bone in a foot. He has not been his usual assured self either
and 19 minutes in, he fumbled a free-kick from Jung Woo-Young before recovering to fist the
ball away as Son closed in. To blame him would be absurd, but equally he is clearly far from
his best, and in retrospect forcing him back ahead of Marc-André ter-Stegen was perhaps an
error.
But he was not the only one. Neuer’s uncertainty is part of a far greater whole. The German
machine was gummed up here; there was no fluency and little cohesion going forward.
Perhaps the aim was simply to deny South Korea the counterattacking chances granted to
Mexico and Sweden and in that at least, the gameplan was a success. The gegenpressing was
more efficient, but then the opponent was weaker, and there was significant cost in terms of
attacking threat.

Not until Goretzka met a Joshua Kimmich cross with a flicked header three minutes into the
second half was there a real sense of German threat. Cho Hyun-woo, though, leapt to his
right to claw the ball away. The Daegu FC keeper came into the tournament as third choice
before being surprisingly selected for the opening game because he is the tallest of the three
keepers and the coach, Shin Tae-yong, was obsessed by Sweden’s height. Cho then gained a
cult status in South Korea, where his extravagant ginger bouffant has earned him the
nickname “Dae-hair”, taking the Korean word for “great” to create a pun on De Gea.

Timo Werner volleyed wide soon after but that was a rare spasm of pressure. With news
coming through that Sweden had scored and that Germany therefore needed to score, Löw
threw on Mario Gomez and then Müller. Immediately those issues in defending against the
counter returned and a more incisive side than South Korea would have taken advantage. It
could, in truth, have been much worse, and over much sooner. But for Kroos’s brilliant late
goal against Sweden, it would have been over a game ago.

In Brazil four years ago Germany struggled to get the balance right between attack and
defence until the quarter-final. This time they never quite did and so, inevitably, unresisted,
twilight fell upon the gods.

Match stats
Possession

KOR
30

DEU
70

Goal attempts
5
Off target
14
6
On target