Kimmich says perfect sentence about the defeat - which contains a world-class insight

"If you look at the first half, they really had no desire to win," said a contrite Joshua Kimmich , adding the decisive half-sentence: "And in the end, they won anyway."

After Wednesday's 2-1 defeat against Portugal, the German national team wanted to show a reaction in the "losers' final." After such a long season and before the Club World Cup, such a match is "not a psychological firework," as national coach Julian Nagelsmann put it beforehand. But his team did deliver a firework on the pitch at the MHP Arena.

Right from the start, there were chances after chances, so that Germany "should have been leading 3-0 after six minutes," as Kimmich analyzed on RTL. But then the home team "unfortunately went into the break with a 0-1 deficit."

Nagelsmann also made it clear: "If you create four or five 100% chances, you can take the lead." The national coach criticized the "finishing quality" of his attackers, saying that France goalkeeper Mike Maignan didn't have to do much to make his saves.

The multitude of opportunities, however, underscores the team's strong performance. "In terms of feeling, the performance was good," said Nagelsmann, but "the result was not." However, they showed that "despite many absences, we can create great opportunities against a top team."

The German national team wasn't exactly at its best at this Final Four. Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz, and Tim Kleindienst were missing from the attack. Antonio Rüdiger, Nico Schlotterbeck, and Yann Aurel Bisseck were missing from the defense. Angelo Stiller was also missing in midfield. Substitutes Jonathan Burkhardt and Nadiem Amiri had to leave training camp due to injury. Conditions weren't easy.

RTL expert Lothar Matthäus also found: “If our first eleven plays, we can keep up with any opponent.” However, the quality in the second row is still lacking compared to the top nations.

Germany also lacks international-level players in some positions—like fullbacks. Matthäus believes Kimmich belongs in the center.

Ultimately, individual quality decides in France's favor. The weaker team wins, but the weaker team has Kylian Mbappé.

He took advantage of his first chance of the game to cause a shock before halftime. Shortly before the final whistle, he set up Bayern's Michael Olise to clinch the game – after a mistake by the German central defenders Robin Koch and Jonathan Tah.

The team “lost patience too quickly and lost structure too early” in the second half, explained Kimmich, and thus “caught one counterattack after another.” For the French, it was “too easy a game.”

In the end, a defeat is a defeat. In the end, it's only fourth place at the Final Four. In the end, it's a disappointing end to the season for national coach Julian Nagelsmann and his German team – and a step backwards toward the World Cup.

As with the European Championship exit against Spain, the Nations League duels have shown that Germany still has a few steps to go before reaching the top of the world.

The games also showed: We are not far behind!