Germany are out in the last 32, beaten on penalties by a Paraguay side that defended for its life. The VAR call will get the headlines back home. It shouldn't. A front line of Wirtz, Sané and Havertz,
The last clear picture of Julian Nagelsmann in this World Cup is of a man shaking his head. Extra time at Boston Stadium, Jonathan Tah rising to head Germany in front, the net bulging, the bench up off its seats. Then the long pause, the screen, the chalked-off goal. Waldemar Anton had leaned into goalkeeper Orlando Gill, soft as you like, and the winner became a footnote. Nagelsmann turned to his staff and shook his head, slowly, the way you do when the world has wronged you.
By 28 minutes past midnight, the head-shaking had spread. It just wasn't aimed at the referee anymore.
Germany are out of the World Cup in the round of 32, beaten 4-3 on penalties by Paraguay after a 1-1 draw that flattered nobody. Julio Enciso headed La Albirroja in front on 42 minutes, against the run of play and very much in the spirit of the night. Havertz levelled with a header eight minutes after the break. Then came 67 more minutes of Germany having the ball, having the chances, and doing remarkably little with either, before the lottery they always used to win finally turned on them.
The story that will lead the bulletins in Germany is the VAR call. It is the wrong story. You can argue the Anton foul was harsh, and plenty will. But a side does not get robbed of a game it had 21 shots and two full hours to settle, and then misses three penalties in. The disallowed goal is an alibi, not an autopsy.
None of which is to wave away Paraguay, because that would be its own kind of dishonesty. Gustavo Alfaro set his team up in a back five, asked them to suffer, and they suffered beautifully. Gill had the night of his life in goal, a wall with gloves, save after save when his line was breached. This was earned at one end as much as it was squandered at the other. Paraguay, who finished third in their group behind a United States side that beat them 4-1, are into the last 16 on merit and nerve.
And that is exactly what should keep German football up tonight. Look at who couldn't break them down. A front line of Florian Wirtz, Leroy Sané and Kai Havertz, with Deniz Undav preferred to Jamal Musiala, and Musiala and Nick Woltemade sitting in reserve. That is a forward unit most nations on earth would trade their federation for. It produced exactly one goal from open play, a header, against the team that had just lost to the USA by three. The names were all there. The team never arrived.
Then there is the part that used to be Germany's birthright. For decades the selling point was the temperament: the ruthlessness, the cold edge, the four-from-four record in World Cup shootouts that turned the penalty spot into home turf. Where was it? Not in 120 minutes of tidy, toothless possession. And certainly not from twelve yards. Havertz, the man who had talked through Germany's penalty plans before the tournament even began, stepped up first and watched Gill save it. Woltemade was denied too. Tah, given the chance to keep it alive, sent his into the New England night. Three misses. The mentality myth had outlived the group-stage humiliations of 2018 and 2022. It did not outlive Foxborough.
Which brings us back to the manager, and to questions he will be answering for some time. Nagelsmann benched Musiala, a genuine line-breaker, for Undav's super-sub form, in the one fixture built around breaking a low block. Was Havertz the right man to lead the line against a packed five, or was a target like Woltemade, held back until extra time, the smarter starting call? Did Wirtz, shunted wide again, ever get near the game he could control from the middle? These are questions rather than verdicts. But they are his questions, and he was slow to answer any of them while the clock ran down.
His pre-match line about Paraguay being an "uncomfortable opponent" reads differently now. Less like respect, more like an early hedge from a manager who had watched his side top a soft group while limping, their long winning run snapped by Ecuador in the final game. The head-shake at the VAR screen was the performance. The pedestrian football underneath it was the truth.
Manuel Neuer made history on the night, a record-equalling World Cup start, and still trudged off beaten. That feels about right for where this team is. Group stage in 2018. Group stage in 2022. Last 32 in 2026. Different managers, different golden generations, the same diagnosis: a country that was once the safest bet in tournament football has become its most dependable early casualty.
Somewhere, Nagelsmann is probably still shaking his head.
He is not the only German doing it tonight.