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Germany captain Joshua Kimmich has admitted his side deserved to be eliminated by Paraguay in the round of 32.
Paraguay produced one of the greatest shocks in recent World Cup history by inflicting a first penalty shootout defeat at the tournament on four-time champions Germany.
After 90 minutes and regulation time ended 1-1, Germany who sit 31 places higher than Paraguay in FIFA’s world rankings, lost a nail-biting sudden-death shootout 4-3.
The game went to extra time after Kai Havertz’s header made it 1-1 after Julio Enciso gave Paraguay a shock lead.
Jonathan Tah thought he had netted the winner but saw his header controversially ruled out by VAR.
Paraguay, who had never won a World Cup knockout match before, will now face either France or Sweden in Philadelphia on Saturday for a place in the quarter-finals.
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Speaking after the game, Kimmich reflected on a disappointing tournament that saw Julian Nagelsmann’s team beat Curacao 7-1 and Ivory Coast 2-1 before losing 2-1 to Ecuador and ultimately crashing out against Paraguay.
“It feels awful,” Kimmich said in the mixed zone after the final whistle, according to Sky Germany.
“We didn’t play well against any opponent. On three occasions we had major problems against teams that are not world-class. That’s a fact.
“We fully deserved to be eliminated,” Kimmich concluded.
Coming into this year’s tournament, Germany had failed to go past the group stages of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
