Defending champions crash out of World Cup after Kazan collapse
Defending champions Germany have crashed out of the FIFA World Cup, after losing to South Korea 2-0 in their final group match.
In the final frantic minutes in front of 41,835 flabbergasted fans at the Kazan Arena, Kim Young-gwon and Son Heung-min finished off Joachim Loew’s German side with two stoppage-time goals to condemn them to finish bottom of the group on three points.
Germany dominated possession with 74 percent, while taking 28 shots to Korea’s 12, but they couldn’t break the Asian nation, which finished third in the pool.
It is the first time since 1938 that a Germany or West Germany side has not advanced beyond the first section of the tournament.
“I cannot say why this was for us,” Loew told reporters. “It was a bit of overconfidence ahead of Mexico – that we can press the button and win.
“It turned sour, I must take responsibility for this. The entire German football lost, the team lost.
“A lot of things we built up since 2006, always at least [a] semi-final. We have to apologise for that.”
Besides Germany this year, France in 2002, Italy in 2010 and Spain in 2014 were the previous defending champions to get eliminated in the group stage.
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