Winners four times Germany was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup at the group stage for the second straight year.
Four years after their terrible run as champions in 2018, Hansi Flick’s team was expected to do much better. However, things got off to a terrible start when they lost to Japan. Germany was ahead in the game, but two late goals from Niklas Sule and some great substitutions by the other team brought them back.
In their second game against Spain, they played much better and tied 1-1 thanks to a goal from Bundesliga journeyman Niclas Fullkrug.
Germany had to win its last game in the group stages and hope that Spain would beat Japan in the other game.
That didn’t happen, though, because Spain blew a 1-0 lead and lost 2-1 to the Samurai Blue, who moved to the top of Group E and made sure that Germany would be out.
