German media on Friday harshly criticized their national football team as it once again crashed out of the World Cup group phase. Germany's top-selling newspaper Bild headlined "The end of a great football nation" in the wake of a humiliating exit for one of the most successful countries in the history of the World Cup tournament. That Germany is out of the World Cup is a "huge embarrassment," the paper said. "On this December 1st, 2022 we witnessed the end of a once great and proud football nation. Four times world champion, three times European champion – that was once!" it added. Germany won the World Cup in 1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014 as well as the European championship in 1972, 1980 and 1990. Bild stressed that no one but the German Football Federation (DFB) and the team should be blamed for the poor World Cup performance. The sentiments were shared by the weekly sports magazine Kicker, which pointed out that Germany "used to be a great football nation" but is now increasingly turning into a football dwarf. "Many are to blame for this – from national coach Hansi Flick to director Oliver Bierhoff to DFB President Bernd Neuendorf," it said. German football has been totally "shipwrecked" at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the magazine said. Meanwhile, Deutsche Welle broadcaster reiterated it cannot be denied that Germany is "no longer an elite team." It added that "in in the context of the current international game, Germany is no longer part of the top tier. They are just another team. The statistics prove it: Germany has just three wins in their last 10 tournament games." — Agencies
