Face of a lost generation: Kimmich's worst fear comes true

Face of a lost generation: Kimmich's worst fear comes true Even before the embarrassing round-of-32 exit against Paraguay, football Germany had been embroiled in quite a few heated debates in recent weeks. Sometimes it was about Deniz Undav, sometimes about Leroy Sané, sometimes about Julian Nagelsmann, and sometimes about all of them together. There was relatively little debate about Joshua Kimmich. Of course, the question of whether the captain should play at right-back or in central midfield was certainly discussed. But that was about it. A few years ago, Kimmich had a significantly worse reputation in Germany. Time and again, he was accused of his openly displayed ambition and passion being little more than a façade. The Süddeutsche Zeitung once even described Kimmich as a "mentality actor." That kind of criticism seemed to die down more and more in recent years. Under coach Vincent Kompany, Kimmich truly flourished as the conductor of Bayern’s midfield, and since 2024 he has also been the undisputed leader of the German national team.  The face of a losing generation? But after the DFB team’s latest World Cup humiliation, Kimmich has suddenly found himself back at the center of public debate. Quite a few observers accuse the 31-year-old of having failed as captain and disappointed on the pitch – once again. Their crushing conclusion is this: Kimmich is the face of perhaps the most unsuccessful generation in German football history and therefore automatically shares part of the blame for the gigantic failure of the past decade. Similar voices had already emerged after the 2022 World Cup. Added to that is the fact that the Swabian-born player is the only German international with more than 100 caps who has not won any major title. Kimmich is aware of his reputation among parts of the football public – and has no intention of firmly contradicting it. After the group-stage exit in Qatar, for example, he said: "For me, this really is the most difficult day of my career. We messed up in 2018 and threw away the Euros in 2021. Before that, Germany was always in the semifinals, then I come along and we go out twice. Personally, that’s not easy for me to deal with. I’m associated with failure. That’s not something you want to stand for. I’m afraid I’ll fall into a hole!” Kimmich rules out retiring from Germany duty Only three and a half years later, Kimmich struck a slightly less dramatic tone after the Paraguay debacle. Still, he touched on the sore spot. "As a child watching Germany on TV, I only knew semifinals and finals. That’s what we wanted to give the children and the people as well," the veteran said dejectedly. "But we couldn’t give that to the people back home. That’s a real shame. Especially at a time when it would do us a lot of good if we had something in Germany we could be proud of. Unfortunately, the national team is not that at the moment." He continued: "We all bear responsibility for that, and we all have to take responsibility for it. Nobody gets to exempt themselves. We have to answer for it. Because we players on the pitch messed this up. It wasn’t the coach, not the media, not the referee. It was us and us alone.” Contrary to the demands of numerous fans on social media, however, retiring from the national team is not an option for Kimmich. "I always have the strength for another attempt. What I will never do is give up," he made absolutely clear. He received support from Mats Hummels. After the defeat to Paraguay, the 2014 World Cup winner said on Magenta TV that he suspected "one or two will retire." "To me, it’s no coincidence that there hasn’t been a single strong tournament since Euro 2016. And that is primarily down to the players." Hummels did not name any names, but added a day later: "Jo Kimmich is not who I mean. He behaves like a complete professional, trains like a complete professional. You can debate his performances – mind you, as a right-back – but I do not question him." Since it is not to be expected that the new or returning national coach will voluntarily do without Kimmich in the future, he is likely to get another chance at Euro 2028. A chance to show that he is not a loser, and even less the face of a losing generation. However, he does not have much time left. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.