A German was already waiting where the ball landed, wanting to swing it into the goal.

Less than nine minutes had passed in this World Cup game at al-Bayt Stadium, which ended in the next debacle for the national soccer team when Joshua Kimmich snipped the ball into the penalty area.

He did it so well that the ball landed right in the gap between the two Costa Rica centre-backs.

Christopher Meltzer

Sports correspondent in Munich.

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The man in the middle had several options.

He could stop the ball - or try, which he then tried: jump his head against the ball at the penalty spot.

That was the wrong decision.

And the first of many opportunities that the Germans missed this Thursday evening.

Out, kick off.

And even if the debacle was not yet in sight, this moment said something about the composition of this team: A right-back who is not right-back staged a center forward who is not a center forward.

Thomas Müller, who hadn't heaved it into the goal in a tournament since the 2014 World Cup semi-final against Brazil, was waiting where the ball went down.

It was the starting point of this game that Thomas Müller was allowed to start as a center forward on the evening on which the German team had to score eight goals in order to secure participation in the round of 16 and missed the first very good opportunity.

And it was the final punchline that Kai Havertz and Niclas Füllkrug, who had to start on the substitutes' bench, later turned the game around with their goals.

One certainly cannot say that Müller is to blame for Germany's failure.

But one thing can already be said: that Müller, the great national player who has given the team so much since the summer of 2010 in South Africa, was unable to give them anything decisive in Qatar in winter 2022.

Later, when Müller, 33, was standing in the stadium's interview zone, he said: "We have a team with potential." And: "We saw a lot of passion, a lot of talent." You can certainly see it that way.

On Thursday, the first German team consisted exclusively of players who had already played in the Champions League this season.

And yet Müller had to be corrected.

The Germans are still a team with potential.

But still one without a plan.

The example of Thomas Müller shows the mistake that Hansi Flick made in his first tournament as national coach.

He didn't know what his strongest eleven was until the very end.

In the first game against Japan, Müller started as a midfielder.

In the second and third game he started as a center forward.

That didn't seem like the last chance to find a place for Müller, his confidante.

Considering that Flick's game idea is based on consistency, he was very inconsistent himself.

For the fact that he called for more courage several times during his tenure, he was very discouraged himself.

Flick and Müller, Müller and Flick - that's a coach and a player, a player and a coach who believe in each other.

But since this Thursday at the latest, it has been very much in question what will become of this great faith.

"I don't know exactly how things will continue," said Müller, speaking into the ARD microphone immediately after the game.

At the end of the interview he even addressed the fans in case this was his last international match.

"I tried," he said, "in every game to keep my heart on the pitch.

I did it with love, you can be sure of that!"

You can also.

When the German national team failed in the preliminary round of the World Cup in the summer of 2018, Müller had to leave afterwards.

It was national coach Joachim Löw who kicked him out.

And it was FC Bayern coach Hansi Flick who rebuilt Müller, who was taken with him by that decision (and made sure Löw brought him back on for his performances).

It was part of Flick's great coaching achievement that he made Müller into a footballer in Munich in just a few weeks, who himself became indispensable again for Bayern.

He gave him confidence, but above all a role.

When Bayern wanted to win the ball, Müller always led the hunt.

He ran and yelled, yelled and ran.

Now, a year and a half later, Müller had no role.

Or, if he played centre-forward, the wrong one.

And now?

In the interview zone, Thomas Müller said that he would give himself “the necessary time” to make a decision about his future, which ARD sounded more advanced than it really was.

He then analyzed the end, saying that the team was also eliminated, "because we don't have specialists everywhere as a team." Then he disappeared.

And so, at least on this evening, the image of a player who does not seem to be part of the solution to the national team's problems, which he can explain, remained.