National coach Hansi Flick has declared the second World Cup group game of the national soccer team against Spain next Sunday to be the final.

"We don't have a free shot anymore, the missed shot we had yesterday, that's how we have to tackle the whole thing," said Flick on Thursday, one day after the bitter 1-2 in Germany's World Cup opener against Japan.

"A lot of things" must have done better against the Spaniards.

The DFB selection threatens the World Cup.

"In retrospect, you have to say that even if a lot was positive over 70 minutes, in the end, if you go into detail, it wasn't what we had imagined," said Flick about the Japan game.

"We have to turn the screws and try to make things better." Each individual player must look to make the game "simply better for themselves".

"We have a lot to do," said Flick.

National player Leroy Sané is now possibly an option for the probably decisive World Cup game of the DFB selection on Sunday (20:00 CET in the FAZ live ticker for the World Cup, on ZDF and on MagentaTV) against Spain.

“Leroy is on the pitch right now, training alone.

That's positive," said national coach Flick.

FC Bayern professional Sané had missed the bitter 1: 2 at the start due to knee problems.

Flick had regretted this in advance because Sané "is a difference player and can turn a game on his own with his qualities".

The 26-year-old Sané was replaced on the left offensive side by young star Jamal Musiala.

Another defeat would mean Germany's early World Cup exit if Japan didn't lose against Costa Rica beforehand.

Negative trend continues

The German national team's first game at the controversial World Cup in Qatar attracted less than ten million viewers on average.

When the bankruptcy against Japan on early Wednesday afternoon, 9.230 million viewers switched on the ARD, as AGF video research calculated on Thursday.

This resulted in a market share of 59.7 percent.

At the World Cup four years ago in Russia, Erste and ZDF each reached an average of more than 25 million people in the three group games of the DFB team, the market shares were between 76.3 and 87.4 percent.

The other games on Wednesday without German participation remained well below the five million mark.

The evening game between Belgium and Canada (1-0) attracted only 4,333 spectators (16.8 percent).

The game of the two German group opponents Spain and Costa Rica (7:0) even stayed under four million with 3.890 million people (21.9 percent).

This continued the negative trend from the first three days of the controversial World Cup in the desert state.

ZDF broadcast from Qatar on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

The interest is significantly lower than at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The average of the preliminary round games four years ago was over nine million on ARD and ZDF broadcasts.