Jonathan Tah on IG:
"I am incredibly disappointed and saddened that we've been knocked out of the tournament. To be honest, I still haven't fully processed it. At the same time, I am extremely grateful and proud to have represented my country at a World Cup for the very first time.
The team, our country, and everyone who supports German football hoped for so much more. Right now, the hardest part is accepting that we gave everything we had to have a successful tournament, yet it still wasn't enough.
The missed penalty has replayed in my mind thousands of times, and I keep trying to imagine somehow putting the ball in the net. But the reality is that it didn't go in. And that hurts
One thing is certain, though: I'd take it again next time. With complete belief and confidence that I'd score it for Germany. It didn't work out this time, but it won't stop me from stepping up again the next time the opportunity comes.
As a team, we will keep moving forward. And I will keep moving forward too, no matter what comes my way.
Thank you to everyone who stood by us, supported us, and shared every moment of this journey from beginning to end. 🇩🇪❤️
God bless you."
Jonathan Tah on his penalty: "To be honest, I felt good. I wasn’t extremely nervous, which is what I actually thought I would be, but I didn’t hit it well. I would take one again next time. I think it's important to take responsibility in difficult moments. That was something I specifically resolved to do for this tournament: to take responsibility – and that's why I did it in that moment" [@SPORT1]
🏴 This new World Cup advert from adidas featuring Lewis Capaldi, Scott McTominay and Andy Robertson hits different.
It's genuinely insane to me that Scott McTominay is now the coolest footballer on the planet. 😎
The World Cup absolutely mogs every other sporting event. It’s what the Olympics wishes it was X100.
You’ve got Europeans road-tripping across America and having their minds blown by Buc-ee’s and Bass Pro Shops. You’ve got a small Kansas town falling in love with an Algerian club that chose Kansas City as their homebase. You’ve got South Korea training in Utah to prepare for the altitude in Guadalajara.
For one month, the whole world forgets we’re supposed to hate each other over differences that barely matter. It’s the closest thing we have to world peace.
FIFA Facts That Hit Like a Red Card:
1. Brazil is the only nation to have played in every single FIFA World Cup, all 22 editions from 1930 to 2022, never missing a single one.
2. The ball used in the 2010 World Cup (the Jabulani) was so aerodynamically unpredictable that goalkeepers across the tournament compared it to a "plastic bag in the wind."
3. Messi holds a record 8 Ballon d'Or awards, more than the combined total of most entire national teams have won major international trophies.
4. A professional footballer makes over 1,000 individual decisions per game, most in under half a second.
5. The fastest player speed recorded in the Premier League is 37.38 km/h, set by Micky van de Ven, and players hit these speeds mid-match, under fatigue, in real competitive pressure.
6. Cristiano Ronaldo became the first individual in history to surpass 1 billion social media followers. His Instagram alone has over 639 million, more than the combined populations of the US, UK, and Germany.
7. The net behind a goal is not required by the Laws of the Game. It's technically optional.
8. India qualified for the 1950 World Cup but withdrew, not because FIFA banned barefoot play as the myth claims, but due to funding issues, logistical chaos, and the AIFF simply not prioritising the tournament over the Olympics.
9. A goalkeeper defending a penalty has to dive before the ball is struck. The human eye simply cannot react fast enough afterward.
10. The entire Laws of the Game that govern football worldwide fit into a document shorter than most corporate employee handbooks.
11. Paul Pogba's 2016 transfer fee of €105 million was, at the time, larger than the entire annual GDP of several small island nations.
12. In high-altitude stadiums like La Paz, Bolivia (3,600m), the ball travels measurably faster and farther. Visiting teams have called it "physically impossible" to play there.
13. The World Cup trophy cannot be kept by the winning nation. They receive a gold-plated replica. The real one stays with FIFA permanently.
14. A football player runs on average 10–13 km per match, the equivalent of running two 5K races back to back, while sprinting, tackling, and thinking tactically the whole time.
15. A football pitch's grass is cut to exactly 25–30mm for top matches. Groundskeepers spend more preparation time on the surface than most fans ever notice.
16. During a penalty shootout, players' heart rates can exceed 180 bpm, the same as a full sprint, while standing completely still.
17. The first World Cup in 1930 had no qualification rounds. Countries were simply invited, and several said no because the boat trip to Uruguay was too long.
18. VAR can detect an offside by a margin of just a few centimetres, roughly the width of a thumb, and disallow a goal scored from 70 metres away.
19. Some Premier League clubs generate more revenue on a single matchday than entire national football federations earn in a full year.
20. The fastest goal in World Cup history was scored by Turkey's Hakan Şükür, just 11 seconds into the third-place match against South Korea in 2002. Most fans in the stadium hadn't even found their seats.
Tyler Adams and Raul Jimenez star in one of the best football commercials you'll ever see. Reminiscent of iconic early 2000s ⚽ ads.
I’m dying with Channing Tatum as Erling Haaland’s stunt double. 💀
So awesome to see 25-year-old USMNT and Derby County striker, Patrick Agyemang, in attendance to support the U.S. against Senegal.
Less than two months ago, Agyemang suffered a serious Achilles tendon injury that would end his World Cup dreams whilst in the form of his career.