Hertha book friendly against Atalanta Bergamo

The Germany national team lost their last group game to South Korea on Wednesday, and with that confirmed their first ever group stage exit in World Cup history.

Berlin/Kazan - That’s it. The Germany national team lost their third and decisive group game on Wednesday against South Korea 2-0. Their World Cup is over. It is the first time that the reigning world champions have been knocked out in the group stage of a World Cup. Hertha’s Marvin Plattenhardt was on the bench for the whole 90 minutes.

No cutting edge

The majority of the first half took place in the midfield, with chances hard to come by. The South Koreans biggest threat was their counter-attack, which they backed up with a strong and organised defense. It was South Korea who had the game’s first big chance, when Manuel Neuer fumbled a free-kick from Jung right into the path of Heung-Min Son, but managed to swipe away the ball from the Tottenham man at the very last moment (19’). Germany’s best chance of the half came through Mats Hummels, whose short-range shot was blocked well by the South Korean keeper (39’). Germany came out of the dressing room with a lot of intent, which translated into chances for both Leon Goretzka (48’) and Timo Werner (51’). South Korea remained focused on staying stable at the back and their only attacking opportunities came in the form of an occasional counter-attack. Mario Gomez’s header (68’) and Marco Reus’ shot from distance were the only real threats posed to the South Korean goal as the game wound down. All hopes were crushed anyway in the 93rd minute, when Jin-Hyeon Kim poked the ball into the net from a corner. Son added another in the 96th minute to make the final score 2-0.

Sweden win the group

In the group’s other game, Sweden secured their position as group winners with their 3-0 win over Mexico. Both sides will still progress to the knockouts, however.