Germany eliminated as Klopp shuts down coaching speculation
Germany’s World Cup ended with a thud and a hush. A four-time champion, out in the round of 32, beaten 4-3 on penalties by Paraguay in Boston after a 1-1 draw. Their first ever shootout defeat on this stage. The inquest began before some players had even left the pitch.
One name, inevitably, surged to the front of the conversation: Jürgen Klopp.
The former Liverpool manager, now Red Bull’s head of global soccer, sat in a television studio as a pundit for MagentaTV and watched the collapse unfold. As soon as Germany were out, the questions started. Would he take the national team? What would have to happen?
Klopp cut it off.
“I haven’t thought about that yet,” he said, in quotes reported by Bild. “I’ve often been in that situation myself as a coach, where a big dream has been shattered.
“I understand that when people talk about the national coach, my name is mentioned. But it’s not the right moment to talk about it, especially not with me.
“I have a job that I really enjoy. And as far as I know, it’s not a part-time job. The fact is, Germany was eliminated today, and this is not the moment for me to think about Jürgen Klopp’s future.”
A nation wanted a saviour. Klopp refused to play the role.
Germany out, questions in
Germany arrived in the knockouts having topped Group E, despite a 2-1 defeat to Ecuador in their third match. It felt like they had ridden out an early storm, rediscovered a little edge. That illusion did not last.
Against Paraguay, they were dragged into a scrap that never quite suited them. Julio Enciso struck first, Kai Havertz hauled Germany level, and from there the game frayed into tension and half-chances. In extra time, Jonathan Tah thought he had become the unlikely hero, only for VAR to intervene and rule out his headed goal. The roar died in his throat. So did Germany’s momentum.
The shootout was chaos.
Havertz, the man who had dragged them back into it, missed from the spot. Nick Woltemade followed him with another failure. Paraguay wobbled too: Antonio Sanabria and Fabian Balbuena both squandered chances to finish it. The door stayed open, just enough to tempt Germany to believe again.
Then came the final twist. Tah, whose disallowed header had teased redemption, missed the target. José Canale stepped up in sudden death and buried his kick. Germany were out. Paraguay marched on. Silence, then shock.
Nagelsmann stands his ground
Julian Nagelsmann walked into the post-match press conference knowing exactly what awaited him. The questions about his future were as predictable as the headlines that would follow.
He did not blink.
“I’m not one to run away,” he said. “It’s not the first time, but it’s been happening for a while now that we’ve been delivering tournaments like this and yes, there are certainly a few basic things that I don’t want to go into now.
“I’m not one of those people who sits here and says, ‘I’m resigning now, just because we’ve been eliminated’. If the DFB wants me to continue then I’ll continue and if they don’t want me to, then they can tell me that.”
The message was clear: he will not walk. The decision now belongs to the German Football Association. The shadow of Klopp, whether he likes it or not, will hover over every meeting room in Frankfurt.
Havertz left “lost for words”
On the pitch, the pain cut deep. Havertz, who has carried so much expectation for both club and country, struggled to process another early exit.
“I’m a little lost for words,” the Arsenal forward admitted, speaking to FIFA’s website. “This is my second World Cup and both times it came to nothing.
“All I can do is apologise. I thought we didn’t play bad football at the last few tournaments, but something was always missing. And it was the same today.
“We have to take a hard look at ourselves, especially the players, and I’m leaving the coach out of that.”
It was a revealing line. Havertz pushed the responsibility towards the dressing room, away from the dugout. Nagelsmann, at least in public, still has allies.
Gakpo’s goal through grief
While Germany unravelled, another story unfolded with a very different kind of weight.
In Guadalupe, Cody Gakpo scored for the Netherlands against Morocco in their own round-of-32 tie. A clean, low finish after being slipped in by Crysencio Summerville. On any other day, it would have been just another sharp striker’s goal.
This was not any other day.
The Liverpool forward dropped to a crouch as the ball hit the net, overcome by emotion. Team-mates rushed to him, wrapped him in a huddle, tried to share the burden. The goal had arrived only days after he and his partner, Noa van der Bij, announced that their son Elijah had died during pregnancy.
“With broken hearts, we share the devastating news that our baby boy passed away during pregnancy,” Van der Bij wrote on Instagram. “Thank you for your love and support. Elijah Raphael Gakpo, forever loved, forever our son.”
Gakpo echoed the pain in his own post: “This is an incredibly difficult time for our family. We kindly ask for our privacy and space. Thank you for your understanding.”
For a while, it looked as if his strike would decide the tie. Then, deep into stoppage time, Issa Diop rose to level for Morocco, one minute into added time. The Dutch slumped, Morocco surged, and the African side completed the turnaround with a 3-2 victory in the penalty shootout.
Gakpo’s night ended in elimination, but the image that will endure is not the result. It is a player in pieces inside a goalmouth, trying to play a game of football while his world has been ripped apart.
Germany now face another reckoning, another search for identity, another debate over the man on the touchline. Klopp has made his stance clear, for now. The question is whether the DFB will believe Nagelsmann can still lead a bruised giant, or whether the pressure of another failure will force them towards a change that the country craves and the leading candidate does not yet want.
