Germany were shocked at home by North Macedonia in the third round of the 2022 World Cup Qualifying‘s group stage. That’s right, the fourth-time world champion has been defeated on their territory by the team that’s currently65th in FIFA‘s ranking. A late goal by Elif Elmas sealed the historic triumph for the visitors.
This was only the third time that the German national team has been beaten in the European Qualifiers, in which their last loss was in 2001 against England by 1-5. From then on, the Die Mannschaft have goneup to 35 games undefeated.
Before this upset, Joachim Low’s team has recorded 18 wins in a row, a world record. As the underdogs claimed the victory in this game, fans reacted on the Internet with hilarious memes.
Memes and reactions as North Macedonia surprises Germany
Very few people could have expected this result. Even the visitors’ supporters may have thought that visiting such a powerful team would be a toughordeal, despite the presumable confidence in their squad.
However, the legendary striker Goran Pandev has put North Macedonia in the lead just before half-time. Germany tried to turn up their game quickly to put them level, and almost twenty minutes in the second half Ilkay Gundogan scored the equalizer through a penalty shoot. But the visitors came up strong at the end of the match with Elif Elmas’ goal. When the victory for North Macedonia was sealed, soccer enthusiasts immediately went to Twitter.
Germany lost a game in the European Qualifiers for the first time in about 20 years. Their impressive unbeaten streak, which included an 18-game winning run, was put to an end by North Macedonia, who were highly praised for their performance.