Beaten, bruised and battered: Spain humiliation leaves Germany on the verge of crisis
Germany haven’t been at their best in the last three years. The team’s slump first began at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where they exited the tournament at the group stage.
On Monday, though, everything came crashing down on them when they suffered a 6-0 humiliation at the hands of Spain.
In Russia two years ago, Die Mannschaft failed to win a single game in their group and deserved to be eliminated early despite going into that World Cup as defending champions. In the last 24 months, it’s been one mixed performance after another.
Germany haven’t lost that many matches, but the team’s poor results in the big games highlight the drastic drop in performance.
For many years Die Mannschaft were known as the team for the big occasion. However, that hasn't been the case recently.
Die Mannschaft on the decline
In the last two years, Germany have lost just four times in 22 games. Per this statistic, it is easy to say the team has been doing well.
However, a closer look will open you up to the fact that despite the team’s good win percentage, their performances haven’t been up to scratch.
All the four losses within that period came against Europe’s elite nations. Germany lost 3-0 to the Netherlands, 2-1 to France, 4-2 to the Netherlands again, before the recent 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Spain.
The teams mentioned above are the ones that Die Mannschaft should be competing with for titles. And not even wins like the 8-0 thrashing of minnows Estonia can make up for their atrocious form in big games in the last few years.
As it stands, the team is heading for a crisis and that could stifle Joachim Low’s bid to rebuild the side. Against Spain, Germany looked to have downed tools right after the third goal went in.
Outplayed and out-fought by Spain
While La Roja had their goals spread across the pitch, Germany were totally lost and lacked inspiration. In the end, Ferran Torres grabbed a hat-trick while Alvaro Morata, Rodri and Mikel Oyarzabal added insult to injury to seal an emphatic 6-0 win for Spain.
"Nothing worked for us tonight," Serge Gnabry told UEFA's official website, as quoted by Goal. "We could not get a grip on them. They deservedly won by such a margin. We now know where we are at."
Gnabry’s comments, although very honest, is a damning assessment of this Germany side. The winger concluded by saying that “we now know where we are at”
In truth, Germany is no longer an A-list national team. They haven’t been since winning the World Cup in 2014 and their latest humiliation by Spain points to a team that is gradually approaching crisis level.