The German team’s World Cup defeat to Paraguay is a metaphor for the country’s loss of prestige Germany’s dismal World Cup performance offered no reprieve for a country already reeling from multiple economic and social crises, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz is struggling to sell the loss to Paraguay as a show of “strength.” Germany lost a penalty shootout to Paraguay at Boston Stadium on Monday night, turning the country’s World Cup dreams into what German tabloid Bild called a “football