Germany crash out of the 2022 FIFA World Cup despite beating Costa Rica

Germany suffered a second successive group stage exit at the FIFA World Cup despite claiming a 4-2 win over Costa Rica on Thursday evening.

Germany’s World Cup campaign came to a crashing halt on a night of incredible drama in Group E. Hansi Flick’s side managed to come from behind and beat Costa Rica 4-2 in their final group stage game. But Japan’s win over Spain meant that the three points weren’t enough, and Germany failed to make the round of 16 for the second World Cup in a row.

Germany knew that they would need a win over Costa Rica and a favour from Spain to qualify for the knockout stages. And they made an excellent start to the game, dominating proceedings right from the first whistle. Serge Gnabry opened the scoring in the 10th minute for Germany, who spent much of the first 45 minutes camped in the Costa Rica half.

Despite their dominance, the German defence still looked shaky whenever Costa Rica tried to counter-attack. And the Central American nation’s resilience finally paid off in the 58th minute, as Yeltsin Tejeda brought them back on level terms. Things went from bad to worse for Germany when Juan Pablo Vargas scored from close range to give Costa Rica the shock lead.

But Germany responded immediately and equalised through Kai Havertz. The Chelsea forward then added a second before Niclas Füllkrug sealed the 4-2 win in the 89th minute.

But Japan’s come from behind 2-1 win over Spain in the other Group E match condemned Germany to yet another early exit from the FIFA World Cup. The 2014 world champions finished the group stage level on points with second placed Spain. But an inferior goal difference cost them in the end, and they will now be returning back home from Qatar much sooner than they would have hoped.