At this year’s FIFA World Cup, Germany was not even convincing in the group stage, but they were still the towering contenders against Paraguay in the top 32. Paraguay finally delivered the bomb surprise of the World Cup, defeated the Germans on penaltiesand the fact that after Fabián Balbuena missed the fifth Paraguayan penalty, Germany’s Jonathan Tah also made a mistake. Tah admitted after the game that he didn’t hit the ball well, but said he wasn’t nervous and would stand up next time because you have to take responsibility in difficult situations.
Even during the penalty shootout, it was interesting to wonder why the defender Tah, who had never taken a penalty kick before, stood there for the crucial penalty kick, which the German Sport1 article according to ZDF’s commentator also highlighted during the match. On Tuesday, in several places, for example in the German Bild there were also reports that the defender took the sixth penalty because after the fifth series the kickers were no longer fixed in advance, and he was the first to respond to the team captain Joshua Kimmich’s question.
The Germans’ fifth penalty was scored by Amiri, and it was heard in the broadcast that while he was walking towards the penalty area, Kimmich was asking his teammates about the order. The clip can be seen here does not clearly support Bild’s claim that several people missed the opportunity before Tah took the sixth penalty, Kimmich is clearly looking for the eighth shooter here. Based on what was said, Leon Goretzka, who plays for Bayern, did not want to take this, so Nathaniel Brown would have received it, Goretzka would have been ninth, and Waldemar Anton would have scored the tenth.
In any case, it can be seen from the dialogue that the Germans decided at one point on the field who would take the next penalty. Thus, it does not seem inconceivable that Tah was also appointed in this way, but it is not known whether this happened because others did not want to undertake it. After that, Malick Thiaw or Manuel Neuer would have followed on a disqualifying basis, but they could no longer take place, however, after the match, Tah said that he would stand for the penalty again anyway. “To be honest, I felt good, I wasn’t too nervous, even though I thought I would be, but in the end I didn’t hit the ball well,” said the German defender.
“I think it’s important to take responsibility even in difficult situations. Before the World Cup, I set myself the goal of taking responsibility, which is why I stood up for this penalty”
– added Tah, who, by the way, headed a goal in extra time, which was eventually taken away from the Germans by VAR. With this decision several experts disagreedJürgen Klopp simply summed up that with that much power, 60 percent of the goals of Arsenal, who won the English championship this year, should have been taken away, because similar scenes took place in those as well.
