Mumbai: Throughout most of the conversation, Oliver Kahn took a few minutes to collect his thoughts before responding.
Germany at the FIFA World Cup at Boston Stadium in Foxborough on June 29, 2026. (AFP)
Then the question of Germany’s performance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup arose.
Since winning their fourth World Cup title in 2014, Germany failed to make it out of the group stage in 2018 and 2022 and this time crashed out in the round of 16, losing to Paraguay on penalties.
The former Bayern and Germany goalkeeper great, who captained the 2002 World Cup (they lost to Brazil in the final), said: “We must be absolutely clear: Germany have played no role at all in the last three World Cups.”
Germany’s campaign began with a 7-1 win over World Cup debutants Curacao. They had a hard-fought 2-1 win over Ivory Coast followed by a 2-1 loss to Ecuador in their final group stage match.
This was followed by defeat to Paraguay after a 1-1 draw after extra time.
Germany extended their unwanted streak of conceding goals in 10 consecutive World Cup matches – their last clean sheet was a 1-0 win over Argentina in the 2014 final.
It’s been over two weeks since their World Cup campaign ended. Germany has already begun to pick up the pieces. Head coach Julian Nagelsmann has resigned and Jurgen Klopp could take his place.
Kahn said Germany’s problems went deeper than what could be solved by changing the coach.
“What happens again and again is that people say, ‘Oh, we’ll have to change the coach,’” Kahn, who is in India as a Zee5 expert, told select media.
“We changed Joachim Löw (after the 2018 World Cup – he led the team to victory in 2014), then Hansi Flick (2022) and now Nagelsmann. But changing the coach is not the answer.
“We have to ask one big question: What kind of players do we want to develop and have in 10 years?”
Kahn was particularly unhappy with the lack of responsibility during the penalty shootout against Paraguay, which Germany lost 3–4.
“Joshua Kimmich (Germany captain) was trying to find players who could shoot in the penalty shootout,” recalls Kahn. “The German mentality doesn’t say, ‘Oh no, I don’t want to shoot.’ The German mentality is to take responsibility for the country.
“This is where we have to ask questions, find new paths and use new solutions.”
In the shootout, Kimmich asked several experienced teammates to step forward and take the penalty. As they hesitated, centre-back Jonathan Ta, who has never taken a penalty in an official match, stepped forward but fired over the crossbar.
“We have a lot of talented players like (Kai) Havertz, (Florian) Wirtz and Jamal Musiala. But do we have the guys who will (give their all to the team)? Do we have the guys who take charge at the right times?” – asked Kan.
“We have a good football education and good coaches, but we have to think about our mentality and how we can build the great mentality that we need in the big tournaments. That’s the question. It’s not who will be the next savior.”