The Pride of a 947 Million Net Worth: Why Merz's World Cup Post Angered Germans

€947 million vs €154 million. The total squad value of Germany's 2026 World Cup team could buy six Paraguayan sides.

June 29th, Massachusetts. Germany held 75.4% possession, fired 21 shots, and had an expected goals (xG) of 1.49. Paraguay managed just 7 shots, with an xG of 0.42.

After 120 minutes, it was 1-1. Paraguay won the penalty shootout 4-3.

Expected goals didn't matter. Neither did the twelve-yard spot.

Enciso scored a first-half header. Havertz equalized with a header of his own in the 54th minute, assisted by Wirtz. Then came over seventy minutes of one-sided attack vs. defense. Paraguay parked the bus, while Germany passed the ball around like prayer beads, spinning endlessly without achieving any salvation.

The penalty spot became an execution ground. Germany missed three spot-kicks. Paraguay's goalkeeper Orlando Gill saved two. Canalete's sudden-death strike sent the Germans back to the dressing room.

€947 million, felled by €154 million from twelve yards. If the story ended there, it would just be football's fault.

But the Chancellor had to speak.

Friedrich Merz posted on X after the match: "Despite the painful exit: What a game! Your commitment and team spirit in this World Cup have inspired the nation. We are proud of you."

Inspired the nation.

Less than 20% of Germans approve of Merz's performance. An international poll ranks him dead last among leaders of over twenty democracies.

A Chancellor rejected by nearly 80% of his people comes to tell you the "nation is inspired." That's even more nauseating than losing.

Bild didn't hold back, calling the post "laughable" and the team "slow, boring, listless," while declaring Merz and coach Julian Nagelsmann "live in a parallel reality." Welt deputy sports editor Walter Straten sneered on air that Merz's platitudes were "even worse than Nagelsmann's comments."

Former Schröder government spokesman Béla Anda put it bluntly: the Chancellor lacks both the empathy to read public sentiment and the courage to face public opinion.

The backlash raged for 11 hours until Merz posted a second time.

"We celebrate victories together and bear defeats together. That makes us strong. Those who wear the eagle on their chest deserve our support."

According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, the first post was sent without Merz's approval — a staff error pushed out a pre-drafted message. The Chancellery's comms team clearly didn't grasp that a team just eliminated by Paraguay didn't need a pep talk.

The second post tried to backpedal, but the word "eagle" carries heavy weight in German context. You call it unity; others hear a whiff of nationalism.

taz.de dug the knife deeper.

Merz has no problem saying he's "proud" of players worth tens of millions. But he shows a completely different face to others. In October 2025, he publicly complained that immigration had made Germany's "cityscapes problematic." About 50 Green party officials and elected representatives published an open letter calling his remarks "racist, discriminatory, hurtful, and inappropriate." In July 2025, he called the Pride flag flying over the Bundestag a "circus tent."

From immigrants to sexual minorities, he has never told these people "you inspire us."

Empathy, for Merz, is highly directional.

Germany's own football record can't support the Chancellor's optimism either.

Since lifting the trophy at the Maracanã in 2014, Germany's World Cup knockout stage record is zero wins — eliminated in the group stage in 2018 and 2022, finally reaching the knockout round in 2026, only to lose on penalties to Paraguay in the Round of 32. Three World Cups, 12 years, zero knockout wins.

An approval rating under 20%, the AfD leading in polls, unresolved baggage over "cityscapes" and "circus tents."

When Merz typed "inspired the nation" on X, he probably hadn't looked at that day's polling.

Germans staring at that line on their screens had only one thought: Maybe get that approval rating above 20% first before talking about inspiration.