Julian Nagelsmann said he will not be resigning after Germany’s elimination from the World Cup last 32 at the hands of Paraguay after a penalty shootout.
“I am not someone who runs away,” said the Germany head coach. “This is not the first time this has happened, and there are some things about today that need to be changed. But if the DFB wants me to continue I am going to continue. I know the mechanics of football, I know how the industry works. I know a lot of people will want me to leave but I would love to continue if the football association wants me to.”
Nagelsmann said he had already spoken to his German FA bosses by the time he emerged around 8.20pm, almost four hours after kick-off in New England, for his press conference deep in the technical room labyrinth of the Boston Stadium.
“They have talked to me gently, they comforted me, they’re not going to offer me an extension of my contract two minutes after I lost this match. They are not going to talk just after the defeat.”
Germany had come to Boston on the back of defeat to Ecuador in their final group game, to face a Paraguay team that had finished third in Group D behind the US and Australia. For Nagelsmann this was a second tournament in three years as Germany manager, with a combined total of one knockout round victory, that against Denmark at their home Euros.
“If we did a survey today in Germany people would not speak positively about me today. But in football you win some and you lose some, it’s always been that way, we haven’t really done much in this tournament to make people celebrate, but I have a lot of confidence that we could have done a better job.
“But I don’t think that everyone in Germany will agree with me staying on as manager of the Mannschaft. It was very difficult because they were ultra-defensive. We didn’t give enough. When you exit the World Cup after you play Paraguay then it is very bitter. If you do not score many goals then it is not enough. It is very hurtful.”
It was a different story for Paraguay, whose president has declared Tuesday a national holiday
Paraguayan journalists had cheered and punched the air as the winning penalty kick was scored to confirm passage to the last 16. In the press conference room there was a round of applause for the Paraguay head coach, Gustavo Alfaro, who went on to praise his “26 warriors” to talk at great length about the growth of the sporting nation, and the importance of football as a source of happiness, power and collectivism for people of the “red earth”.
Paraguay will now face either France or Sweden in the most stars-and-stripes-coded occasion at this World Cup, a 4 July Independence Day game in Philadelphia, the place where the Declaration of Independence was originally written by Thomas Jefferson.
