A 0-2 defeat to the Korean team in Kazan (Russia) in the final match of Group F of the 2018 VCK World Cup caused Germany to end the group stage at the bottom of the table with 3 points. They became the third reigning World Cup champions to be eliminated from this round.
In the above loss, Mats Hummels, Timo Werner and Toni Kroos all had favorable opportunities to help Die Manschaff get the opening goal, however, they could not take advantage. Moreover, they also conceded 2 goals from Kim Young-gwon and Son Heung-min in the second half's extra time.
In an interview with ZDF after the match, center back Mats Hummels admitted that they have not achieved their best form in a long time.
He shared after this surprise: Its hard to say the words. We still believe in victory until the last moments. Even when we were behind 0-1, we still tried to turn the situation around.
The team's problem was not getting the ball into the opponent's net. really, the team has enough scoring opportunities, including me. I had to score in the 87th minute... We didn't take advantage of the opportunities.
The team has a few things to start. I will not say publicly what it is. The last convincing performance we had was in the fall of 2017. It's been a long time since then.
Today is a very, very bitter evening for us and the German football fans.
Bayern Munich's central defender clearly understands that this is not an easy World Cup for big names. However, he was still disappointed when Duc lost his composure against Korea.
He expressed: Almost no team can walk easily, except England and Belgium. Most of the championship candidates have difficulty when the small teams play well.
We have improved many of the things I have emphasized. Against Sweden, the team ensured more safety for the home team's goal. We got that today.
From the 65th minute, we became extremely hasty, with many passes, and had to endure many counter-attacks from the opponent. Many counter-attacks were really unbelievable but we kept them well.
