“Three national team coaches have failed at the same point: Joachim Löw, Hansi Flick, and Julian Nagelsmann. Three different game plans. Three different leadership styles. When three coaches with different approaches always fail at the same point, the cause lies deeper.

“One scene says more about this elimination than any statistic. When the penalty shootout went beyond 5 takers, you could see Joshua Kimmich looking for penalty takers. For me, that was the most revealing moment of this elimination. A top team doesn’t look for volunteers at that moment. They have players who demand the ball.

“Germany doesn’t have a talent problem. This team has exceptional footballers. What they lack is the confidence to take responsibility in the biggest moment. Those who don’t take it may be protecting themselves from failure. But at the same time, they’re forfeiting the chance to make history.

“We’re arguing about who has to go now and pinning our hopes on the next savior instead of asking why we’ve been repeating the same patterns for years. We replace faces and call it change. But we avoid the real question: Are we still willing to pay the price that elite performance has always demanded?

“The defining moment doesn’t begin when you put on the national team shirt. It begins many years earlier, the moment a young player learns that responsibility isn’t something you pass on to someone else, it’s something you take on yourself.

“Talent gets you to the World Cup. Responsibility determines how long you stay there.”

Kahn has a point, but there are some that would not agree on the coaching, where the last three managers all unraveled, or the talent, which has not lived up to expectations. Still, Kahn’s assessment of the overall mentality within the program cannot be ignored.

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