There was an added note of pain for Germany in the tone, the pitch, the basic jauntiness of Costa Rica’s designated goal music, a taunting blast of trumpets and maracas, the kind of thing that gets played on a particularly cruel TV gameshow as the bucket of gunge upends itself over the dunce’s booth.
Germany did manage something novel at Al Bayt Stadium, exiting the World Cup at the earliest stage despite winning this game 4-2. They spent most of it in, then out; and even witnessed an extraordinary period where it seemed Costa Rica, who played with real heart, were going through instead. With 48 minutes gone Hansi Flick’s team had been bossing this Group E endgame, eyes still fixed on the horizon towards the last 16 of Qatar 2022. Elsewhere in the Doha orbit zone Spain were 1-0 up.
