Penalty crisis! Germany players refused to take decisive spot-kick
Steven Perez
Dailysports's expert
After Manuel Neuer pulled off a crucial save in the penalty shootout against Paraguay, the German national team was suddenly faced with an unexpected and acute problem: there simply wasn’t anyone willing to step up for the sixth penalty.
Details: According to BILD, the situation was extremely tense—none of the remaining players wanted to shoulder the responsibility at such a critical moment.
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Leon Goretzka, Waldemar Anton, Nathanael Brown, and Malick Thiaw visibly hesitated and ultimately decided not to take the risk, backing out of taking the spot-kick. The players were clearly unprepared for such pressure, putting the coaching staff in an extremely difficult position at the decisive stage of the match.
As a result, defender Jonathan Tah was forced to take the penalty. To make matters worse, he had never taken a penalty in an official match throughout his career.
It’s worth noting that, in the end, Germany lost to Paraguay in the shootout.
Recall: The future of Julian Nagelsmann with the German national team has been decided.
