Kimmich admits Germany deserved World Cup exit against Paraguay

Joshua Kimmich did not hide from Germany’s collapse in Foxborough. After Paraguay eliminated Germany 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw at Boston Stadium, the captain accepted that the performance was not good enough for a World Cup knockout match.

Julio Enciso put Paraguay ahead in the 42nd minute, and Kai Havertz pulled Germany level in the 54th. ESPN listed Kimmich as a starting midfielder and recorded Germany’s exit on penalties, closing a match that had stayed level through regulation before Paraguay held its nerve in the shootout.

The defeat ended Germany’s run at a World Cup expanded to 48 teams, where the 32 qualifiers move straight into knockout play starting with the round of 32. Paraguay had reached that stage as one of the eight best third-placed teams, a path the German federation had already highlighted before the match in Boston. Germany entered the tie under Julian Nagelsmann, with Kimmich captaining the side in his third World Cup.

Rudi Völler had warned before kickoff that Germany needed a very strong performance, and the team never produced one. The result left Kimmich facing the same blunt assessment he had offered after Germany’s group-stage loss to Ecuador on June 25, when he criticized too many turnovers and said the second half had been a deserved defeat.

That self-criticism framed Germany’s exit against Paraguay, where the captain’s candor matched the scale of the failure. Germany were eliminated in Foxborough, not by a late controversy or a missed call, but by a match in which Paraguay scored first, Germany only found one equalizer, and the shootout finished the job.