Mentally Weak Germany Reportedly Had 4 Players All Refuse to Take The Final Penalty Kick in Their Loss to Paraguay

Well that's one of the more pathetic things I've seen from a team of professionals. Soccer can be a weird sport. The mindset just seems to be different than the typical competitive mindset I'm used to seeing in American sports. It seems like multiple times a game, something will happen that I just don't really understand. Take this extra time possession from Paraguay for example.

I'm a once of 4 years kind of soccer fan, so I'll defer to the professionals. I'm sure there's a reason Paraguay had possession inside of Germany's box, then passed the ball all the way back to their own goalie so he could launch a bomb to a single forward surrounded by 5 defenders. They wound up winning the game in penalty kicks anyways, so who am I to criticize it?

But there can't be an excuse for Germany's captain to have to struggle to find a 6th penalty taker. Of all countries, I would have thought the Germans had more of a backbone than that. The Germans strike me as a strong people. People who wouldn't shy away from a big moment. It's not like they're France. Germans don't cower in fear. Historically, Germans are quick to go on the offensive. They take what's theirs. They take what's not theirs. Do you think Hit––never mind.

The 4 players who denied taking the penalty were Leon Goretzka, Waldemar Anton, Nathaniel Brown, and Malick Thaw. None of them are prolific scorers. But Leon Goretzka is a 30 year old midfielder with 58 career goals. According to transfermarkt, he's scored 3 times on penalty kicks. In that moment, you have to step up and be the guy. 

Instead, it fell on the shoulders of Jonathan Tah, a 6-foot-4 center-back (i.e. a defender), who does have 17 goals in 14 years of professional soccer, but until yesterday he had never taken a penalty kick in his life. And we all know what happened from there.

I think you also have to give a good deal of blame to Germany's coach. Before the penalties even start, you should have more than 5 players ready to go. Somebody on that team should be mentally preparing themselves to take a penalty should it go beyond 5 shooters. 

Advertisement

As a person cheering for the United States, I was happy to see a World Cup favorite in Germany go out early. The more strong teams we don't potentially have to play the better. But after seeing how much Germany cowered in fear in a big moment, maybe I should have been cheering for us to get matched up with them down the line. They sure has hell didn't play Paraguay as well as we did.