Germany at the World Cup: symbolic failure?

For the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany’s humiliation reflects the mood in the country:

“In a remarkable reaction to this shameful exit from the tournament, captain Joshua Kimmich spoke of how it had been the team’s duty to make the nation proud. … The question of pride links the footballers’ pitiful disaster with the mood in the country. … People’s satisfaction with living in this country over the last seventy years has been derived from many different sources in Germany. It was a pride instilled by its institutions. … Economic prosperity was one of those sources; the efficient functioning of the public administration was another. People took pride in the work of its engineers, in its grammar schools and universities. In its healthcare, in its theatre scene. Now, however, many of these things have lost their substance.”