Julian Nagelsmann said he will not resign after Germany's World Cup last-32 exit to Paraguay on penalties – a defeat that sparked fury from the country's media and calls for the head coach to be replaced by Jürgen Klopp.
Germany lost the shootout 4-3 after a 1-1 draw in Boston, with Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah all missing their spot-kicks. It was Germany's first ever loss in a World Cup penalty shootout, having previously won all four they had contested.
“Nagelsmann refuses to quit after Germany's first World Cup penalty defeat to Paraguay.”
"I am not someone who runs away," Nagelsmann said. "If the DFB wants me to continue I am going to continue. I know a lot of people will want me to leave but I would love to continue if the football association wants me to."
The defeat, which followed group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022, prompted German newspaper Bild to splash with a headline that translates as 'The next German football nightmare'. Spiegel called it the "decline of a once great football nation" and said the failure "also bears the name Nagelsmann". On the Sky Sport Germany website, a poll found 93 per cent of voters wanted Nagelsmann to leave.
Bild has already nailed its colours to the mast in terms of a replacement, calling Jürgen Klopp "uniquely qualified to save German football" after Nagelsmann had failed to do so. It added: "On the contrary, he crashed headlong into a wall."
Paraguay, ranked 41st in the world to Germany's 10th, defended manfully for 120 minutes before José Canale struck the winning spot-kick. The result was so momentous that Paraguay's president declared Tuesday a national holiday, while journalists cheered and punched the air in the press conference room.
Nagelsmann, who took over in 2023 and only reached the quarter-finals of the home Euros in 2024, acknowledged the scale of the failure. "When you exit the World Cup after you play Paraguay it is very bitter. It is very hurtful," he said. "This is the third elimination in a row, so we are not part of the first-class teams any more." He added that he had spoken with DFB bosses, who "comforted" him but did not offer a contract extension "two minutes after I lost this match".
Yet the manager remains defiant. "In football you win some and you lose some," he said. "But I don't think that everyone in Germany will agree with me staying on."