Defending champions Germany have been eliminated from the World Cup at the group stage following defeat by South Korea, in one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s history.


The four-time winners crashed out in ignominious fashion – conceding twice in injury time as they pressed for the goal which would have sent them through.

In an astonishing and enthralling end to the match, Kim Young-gwon’s 92nd-minute goal – which was initially ruled out for offside before being awarded after a video assistant referee decision – left Germany on the brink of elimination.

Worse was to come for the world’s number one ranked side, however, when deep into stoppage time and appearing increasingly desperate, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer lost possession in the opponents’ half.

Ju Se-jong launched it forward where Son Heung-min tapped into an empty net to score the second.
That prompted jubilant celebrations from the South Koreans, while some Germany fans inside the shocked stadium were left in tears four years after watching their national team lift the trophy in Rio; a competition in which they beat the hosts Brazil 7-1 in the semi-finals. It is the first time since 1938 that West Germany or the unified Germany team has not advanced beyond the first stage of the tournament – Joachim Low’s side finishing bottom of Group F in this edition.

Wednesday’s defeat followed their opening loss against Mexico, while it took a dramatic late winner from Toni Kroos to earn them their only points of the group stage against eventual group winners Sweden.

Reigning champions go home early yet again

  • Germany are the fourth defending champions to be eliminated from the Group Stage at the World Cup in the last five tournaments (also France 2002, Italy 2010, Spain 2014).
  • This is only the second time that Germany have been eliminated from the first round at the World Cup having last done so in 1938 – however, this is the first time it has happened when the first round has been in a group stage format.
  • South Korea have been eliminated from the group stage at consecutive World Cup tournaments for the first time since they failed to progress from this stage in each of their first five appearances at the World Cup (1954, 1986, 1990, 1994 & 1998).
  • Germany’s tally of two goals scored at this World Cup is the second fewest managed by a defending champion in the competition, only ahead of France’s zero in 2002.
  • This was Germany’s first ever defeat against an Asian nation in a World Cup match in what was their sixth such match.
  • Germany have failed to score in two of their three World Cup games in 2018, as many as their previous 15 World Cup matches combined.
  • This was South Korea’s first clean sheet at the World Cup since a 2-0 win over Greece in 2010; they had gone eight without a shutout before this match.
  • South Korea have beaten Germany in a World Cup match for the first time, having lost each of the previous two meetings in the competition.
  • Son Heung-Min’s goal for South Korea (95:52) was the latest goal Germany have ever conceded in a World Cup match (excluding extra-time).
  • Since the 2010 edition, Germany have lost both of their World Cup matches in which Thomas Muller has not started (also lost 0-1 to Spain in the 2010 semi-final), compared to 80% when he has started (12 wins in 15 games).

[team_standings id=”38323″ title=”Group F” number=”4″ columns=”p,w,d,l,gd,pts” show_team_logo=”1″ show_full_table_link=”0″ align=”none”]


South Korea goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo said: “I’ve never had a perfect game like this before, all my career.
“All of the Korea players, and also the head coach, were playing for the Korean people, we all become one for the Korean people. “It was only after the match that we realised the score and of course we were disappointed, so that’s why a lot of us cried.”

Germany manager Joachim Low said: “The disappointment of us being eliminated is just huge. We didn’t deserve to be winning the World Cup again, we didn’t deserve to move into the round of 16. “I’m shocked. Shocked because we didn’t manage to pull it off and beat Korea Republic and we lost this game. It wasn’t my impression when I spoke to the team before that they were under pressure before the match because the Sweden game was on at the same time.

“We really had the feeling that our team wanted to move ahead and qualify for the knockout stages.
“How do we go from here? We’ll have to talk about it calmly and I think it’s premature for me to say something. It will take me some hours to come to terms with it and I’m incredibly disappointed by this elimination.
“Our team in this match was missing the ease of play and the classiness we normally display. Also the dynamism that led to the goalscoring opportunities was not there, so we deserve to be eliminated.”