Worst of my career, laments Kimmich

The German Football Association (DFB) will next week launch a round of talks to identify the reasons for their second consecutive World Cup flop, after the team were eliminated in the group stage again on Thursday night.

But for some, like captain Joshua Kimmich, no answer would be sufficient.

"It's the worst day of my career," the Bayern Munich midfielder said, his voice nearly trembling.

"When I came to the Germany national team, they were World Cup winners, and in Euro 2016 we made it to the semi-final. Then we messed up 2018, wrote off the Euros and failed to make it out the group stage again here.

"My aim, attitude and responsibility was to help the team progress. I find it hard to cope with the fact that I'll be linked with these failures. I'm a little afraid of falling into that hole."

The campaign questioning the 27-year-old's moral fibre had already started last week. Bild called him "Chefchen" after the Japan game, which translates as "wannabe boss" and is the same disparaging term the paper had used to describe Bastian Schweinsteiger before the 2014 triumph.

"It's not just bad luck, it's also inability," Kimmich said. "Opponents don't have to do much to score goals against us."

Four-time champions Germany - who host the European Championship in 2024 - crashed out of the World Cup despite their 4-2 victory over Costa Rica in their last Group E match, tumbling at the first hurdle for the second consecutive tournament.

They had arrived in Qatar determined to restore their tarnished reputation after their shock 2018 group stage exit. Instead they finished third in the standings, level on four points with Spain but behind on goal difference, and they return home early to face scathing criticism.

"You can imagine that today there is deep disappointment," DFB President Bernd Neuendorf told reporters on Friday at Doha airport as the team prepared to return home. "This elimination is extremely painful. But we have to look ahead and so we will lead a process on how to deal with this."

Germany will host Euro 2024 and following their shock World Cup exit, expectations - and pressure - have just increased.

"The expectation is for the sporting direction to have a sporting analysis of this tournament and to also develop a prospect for after the tournament and the Euros (2024) on home soil," Neuendorf said.

"It (analysis) must also include the development of the national team since 2018. This is the demand and claim that we have. Then we will have more talks." The Germans suffered a similar first-round exit at the 2018 World Cup, their earliest departure in over 80 years at the time, but they never before failed to win any of their first two group matches as in Qatar.