Analysis: Germany suffer embarassing World Cup exit against another low block | OneFootball

Germany were heavy favourites going into their round of 32 clash with Paraguay, but they soon found out it was not going to be plain sailing and suffered an early exit from their third World Cup running.

As has been common in this tournament, another top ranked side struggled to break down the low block – but this time, it ended with one of them suffering a shock defeat on football’s biggest stage.

The 2014 winners were far too lethargic going forward – a stark contrast to their opponents breaking away with purpose at every chance to counter – and were punished for some awful defending that gifted Enciso a free header to open the scoring.

Kai Havertz responded with a glancing header past Orlando Gill, his third goal of the tournament, before Jonathan Tah’s powerful header in extra time was ruled out when VAR judged Waldemar Anton to have impeded the goalkeeper.

Having put in a phenomenal performance at the back, José Canale blasted his penalty home to send Germany crashing out with their first ever defeat in a World Cup shootout and, by FIFA’s rankings, cause the third-biggest upset in the tournament’s history.

Julian Nagelsmann’s side had struggled previously against teams’ use of a low block in the group stages, losing 2-1 to Ecuador and needing a last-minute goal from Denis Undav to beat Ivory Coast.

They were simply too slow in possession and did not move the ball into wide areas quick enough, and their decision making in the final third was lethargic at best. When opportunities were arising, they were not being taken and they were instead overplaying.

Playing against a low block is not easy as shown numerous times this tournament, but Germany needed to adopt their directness far sooner.

When Germany did play direct, they were rewarded with the equaliser. A cross into the box from deep by Wirtz caught the South American side out and Havertz guided it home.

Due to the amount of possession and the few chances Paraguay were having, the German backline often switched off and were sloppy.

Enciso’s opener was really poor from a defensive perspective as there was not a German defender anywhere near him.

Further defensive errors were seen by experienced individuals like Kimmich who was nearly caught out after a sloppy back pass that was picked up by Enciso.

Germany only have themselves to blame for their early elimination for a third World Cup running. They failed to break Paraguay down and were far to lacklustre and slow.

They lacked urgency and played into the hands of Paraguay allowing them to keep sitting in with very little pressure on their shape.

Die Mannschaft were naïve in their performance and allowed Paraguay to frustrate them, and they lacked a killer instinct or simply just the spirit and will to win.

In the end, the 31 places separating the two sides in FIFA’s rankings meant very little and the Germans are knockout out early on for the third World Cup running.

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Germany – Paraguay Live Score