Nagelsmann rues Germany’s defeat in World Cup qualifiers opener | OneFootball

First game and alert on: Germany debuted in the European Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup with a 2-0 defeat to Slovakia this Thursday (4th), in Bratislava, and is already in an uncomfortable position in Group A of the competition.

With goals from David Hancko (42′) and David Strelec (55′), the Slovaks handed the Germans their first away defeat in the Qualifiers and the fourth in their entire history (1-0 to Portugal in 1985, 5-1 to England in 2001, and 2-1 to North Macedonia in 2021).

This Thursday's defeat is also more serious than the previous ones, as this time the group has only four teams, which considerably reduces the margin for slip-ups.

Coach Julian Nagelsmann's team now needs to react quickly, next Sunday, in Cologne, against Northern Ireland, who simultaneously defeated Luxembourg 2-1.

Only the group leader qualifies directly for next year's World Cup. If they don't secure that first place, the Germans will have to go through a dangerous playoff at the end of March, for which they at least have a guaranteed spot for finishing fourth in the last edition of the UEFA Nations League.

Four-time champions (1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014), Germany has only missed two of the 22 editions of the World Cup: the first in 1930 and the one in 1950, right after the country's defeat in World War II.

"In terms of emotion, our opponent was far ahead of us from the first to the last minute, that's a fact," Nagelsmann declared after the match. "If you look at our record over the last ten years, it's not like we're full of confidence and can play at 80%," he added.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.