The entourage is dispersed, the representatives of the German World Cup are scattered to the four winds. The national players have already had some time to think, and now some are reflecting on the renewed embarrassment. Kai Havertz fears a longer World Cup hangover.
Joshua Kimmich gave up fighting two days after the bitter end of the World Cup from the German national soccer team. Kimmich wrote on Instagram that he would need time to analyze everything and learn the right lessons from it. “We didn’t manage to constantly bring our quality onto the pitch,” said Kimmich. But he emphasized: “In four weeks at the latest, it’s time to attack again, because giving up is never an option.”
On the other hand, Kai Havertz fears a longer World Cup hangover among the national players. “We are all very frustrated, disappointed and have many other feelings, it will take weeks to process this,” said the Chelsea FC professional one day after returning from Qatar. “Sometimes you get the highlights like Japan played so well and sometimes you stay on the other side and feel that pain, that’s why football is such an amazing sport. We feel the pain of the nation,” the 23-year-old wrote Twitter.
Mario Götze also came to a sobering conclusion. “I’m still disappointed with how the World Cup turned out for us. It’s been really up and down the last two weeks. I also think the overall performance has been better than the results suggest. But it doesn’t help, to look for excuses,” said the 30-year-old.
While leading player Kimmich has failed for the second time in a row with the DFB selection in the group phase, it was Havertz’s first world championship. He had scored two more goals in the 4-2 win against Costa Rica after coming on as a substitute, but was unable to prevent elimination in the group stage. The offensive player doesn’t have much time to reflect. He will continue in the English Premier League on December 27 with Chelsea FC against AFC Bournemouth.
For Götze, this World Cup was the complete opposite of his last, when he shot the DFB team to the title in 2014. The Frankfurt professional was nominated again for the DFB team by national coach Hansi Flick after a five-year international break, but only made two joker appearances in Qatar without scoring. The offensive player from Eintracht Frankfurt has not yet announced whether he wants to continue his career in the national team.
Kimmich spoke of the “most difficult day of my career” after the preliminary round and explained: “I’m afraid of really falling into a hole.” He had been comforted by France star Antoine Griezmann. “You are a great player! You will rise again Joshua,” wrote the Atlético Madrid attacker on Twitter in Spanish.