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By Tyler Erzberger
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For the third straight World Cup in a row since they won in 2014, the German Men's National Team will not make the Round of 16 of the World Cup.
After getting through their opening group as the leaders, it felt as if it would be a straightforward win in the first knockout round against Paraguay before taking on France in a battle of the superpowers on July 4.
Yet, in Boston on Monday, German fans were left slouched in their stadium seats as their nation lost in penalty kicks to a team that began the tournament getting humiliated 4-1 by the United States of America.
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While Germany held possession for a majority of the game and had a goal called off due to foul on the opposing goalkeeper in extra time, to say they earned the win over Paraguay would be giving them too much credit.
This German team deserved to go out in the Round of 32.
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Aside from their first game when they beat up on Curaçao, the tiniest country in World Cup history, Germany's offense was as stale as three week old bread. Deniz Undav was a massive spark in their comeback win against the Ivory Coast, but overall, they were lucky to win that game against the African nation. And then against Ecuador, they scored an early goal that should have been called back due to a foul and then did nothing of note the rest of the contest.
The same story was told on Monday. Germany scored on a set piece, but in the actual run of play, they lacked any sort of bite. Paraguay, whose defensive style has befuddled the likes of Argentina and Brazil, had little issue letting the Germans play into them.
When Paraguay demanded Germany to play with any sort of creativity or speed to beat them on the wings, there wasn't anything to be worried about. Leroy Sane was a ghost of his former self, ending the match with no successful dribbles and getting stopped at almost every attempt to do something with his feet.
The team looked old and lifeless outside of the assist from Florian Wirtz, who has been one of the team's most maligned players.
Germany desperately missed their 18-year-old prodigy Lennart Karl, who suffered an injury that took him out of the tournament days before the World Cup started.
But a country like Germany shouldn't need a single teenager to be the difference between beating Paraguay or going home early.
From the manager Julian Nagelsmann to the staff to the players, it was an abject failure.
And it was well earned.
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