Germany crashed out of the World Cup after a miserable group stage campaign that saw them lose their opener to Japan while drawing in their second outing, so Ilkay Gundogan was understandably upset with the failure and expressed his thoughts on Instagram.
He said: “I was really confident that this time it would go very far. Everything just felt really good. But not even two weeks later it was all over again. It’s incredibly difficult to understand all of this. It’s my third big tournament in a row with the DFB team that ends extremely frustrating and this time it’s really a challenge to cope.”
The 32-year-old played in every game for Germany in Qatar (3), amassing 192 minutes of football while scoring one goal, but he wasn’t at his best in midfield – failing to make a tackle, failing to create a chance and failing to make an interception in two of the three matches.
In Germany’s last group game, Gundogan gave away two fouls and was dribbled past once, so he wasn’t at his defensive best despite being deployed in a deep-lying role. The midfielder will be 36 at the 2026 World Cup, so he might have played his last for Germany.
Gundogan wasn’t in the squad for the side that won the 2014 World Cup, so he’s only known disappointment with the national team – group stage exits in 2018 & 2022 while bowing out of the 2020 Euros in the last-16.
In other news, Pep Guardiola will be delighted Nathan Ake has impressed at World Cup
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