World Cup 2026: Why Paraguay eliminated us – Germany coach, Julian Nagelsmann

Germany head coach, Julian Nagelsmann, has explained why his team was eliminated from the World Cup tournament on Monday.

Speaking at his post-match interview after the game, Nagelsmann said Germany’s build-up play was too slow during the encounter against Paraguay.

According to him, his team took too long to make Paraguay chase the game and failed to put the ball into the opponent’s box far more often.

Recall that Nagelsmann watched as Paraguay defeated Germany 4-3 on penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw in the World Cup Round of 32.

Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade, and Jonathan Tah all missed their spot kicks against Paraguay.

“There’s a real sense of dejection in the dressing room. Unfortunately, that’s how football works sometimes; some teams can win with simple means. And you have to defend against those means consistently,” Nagelsmann said.

“We took too long to make our opponent chase the game. We could have put the ball into the box far more often.

“We have to settle the game before it gets to [penalties]. Our build-up play was too slow,” he added.