Do not adjust your screen, Germany really have been eliminated from the 2022 World Cup.
Going into the Qatar tournament, everyone thought Die Mannschaft would easily progress to the knockout stage along with fellow footballing giant, Spain.
But in their opening game, Hansi Flick’s side suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Japan after taking a 1-0 lead courtesy of an Ilkay Gundogan penalty.
And that was the start of Germany’s downfall, which culminated in their elimination on a drama-filled Thursday evening.
Flick’s team beat Costa Rica 4-2 in their final group match, but that wasn’t enough to secure passage to the last-16.
Why not? Well, because for the second time in 10 days, Japan beat a former World Cup winner.
The Asian nation defeated Spain 2-1 thanks to two goals in the space of three second half minutes.
Ritsu Doan cancelled out Alvaro Morata’s opener in the 48th minute, before Ao Tanaka stunned the world by converting from close-range.
There was an element of controversy to Japan’s second goal, though.
Read more – World Cup: Japan score controversial goal vs Spain as ball seemed to go out
In the build-up, it appeared as if the ball went out of play before it was crossed into Tanaka’s path. The replays appeared to show it was clear and obvious, but much to the shock of virtually everyone watching, the goal was given by the team of officials.
No one could quite believe what they were seeing at the time.
Per Dermot Corrigan of The Athletic, the technology in place didn’t make the final decision. Instead, it was an ‘eye test’.
Sounds mad, right? But after looking at new images of the incident, the ball did seem to stay in play before being fired into the back of the net by Tanaka.
Check out the images…
Images: Was Japan’s second goal vs Spain legal?
Top down and in play by the smallest of margins. pic.twitter.com/JGKeIt7DtS
— Chris Williams (@Chris78Williams) December 1, 2022
Looks pretty conclusive there even for the naked eye, right? Yes, it was very tight, but the whole ball didn’t seem to cross the line.
A video from James Maw posted way back in 2017 also helps clear up the situation, as it touches on how people can be deceived by images of a ball next to a line from certain angles.
Video: Certain angles can be very, very deceiving
Why we need goal-line technology… #RIPVine pic.twitter.com/3hTyPF8TT2
— James Maw (@JamesTMaw) January 16, 2017
Enough evidence? We reckon it is.
So, Germany are out of the World Cup at the group stage for the second tournament in a row, which is simply not acceptable for a country of their footballing stature.
Japan have progressed to the last-16 as group winners and will play Croatia, while Spain have a date with Morocco – which promises to be an epic encounter.
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