2026 FIFA World Cup: Havertz, Musiala, Wirtz not world class — Kroos explains Germany's World Cup elimination

Former Germany international Toni Kroos has attributed the national team's penalty shootout exit to Paraguay at the 2026 FIFA World Cup to a lack of established world-class talent.

Speaking after Julian Nagelsmann's side were eliminated in the round of 32, the retired midfielder offered a stark assessment of the current squad.

"Germany's elimination? We currently don't have a single world-class player," Kroos said during a media appearance following the match.

"We have players with world-class potential, but that doesn't mean they are world-class."

Kroos, who won the 2014 FIFA World Cup with Die Mannschaft in Brazil, pointed to a stark gap between the German squad and the tournament's true difference-makers, an elite bracket currently spearheaded in North America by stars such as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and Harry Kane.

"The world-class players are deciding the World Cup matches and leading the top goalscorers' list," he added.

The comments directly question the world-class status of players like Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz, Joshua Kimmich and Kai Havertz.

Havertz scored the equaliser in the 1-1 draw against Paraguay in Boston but subsequently missed his spot-kick during the decisive 4-3 shootout defeat.

The latest early exit compounds a miserable decade for the four-time winners since their last triumph in South America.

Kroos himself was part of the squad that suffered a group-stage elimination at the 2018 tournament in Russia, a failure Germany then repeated at the 2022 edition in Qatar.