Thomas Muller gave a scathing assessment of VAR after Germany suffered a shock exit in the 32nd. FIFA World Cup 2026, with a controversial decision disallowing Jonathan Taho’s extra-time goal that proved decisive in a dramatic defeat to Paraguay.Speaking to German broadcaster Magenta TV after the game, Muller questioned the intervention that wiped out what Germany believed to be the winning goal in the 101st minute of extra time.“Honestly, I don’t know what VAR is looking at anymore. What kind of call is that? From everything I saw, Germany scored a perfectly legitimate goal. Jonathan Tah attacked the ball brilliantly, won it fairly and finished with authority. That’s football. “It should never have been taken away,” Muller said.Germany were already celebrating when Tah headed in a corner kick, only for referee Jalal Jayed to be instructed to review the incident after a VAR review. According to reports, the goal was disallowed due to an alleged foul by defender Waldemar Anton on Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill during the build-up.Muller, however, was not convinced by the decision and suggested that Germany had been treated unfairly at a crucial moment.“We Germans feel taken advantage of and cheated. This is wrong. This is daylight robbery on football’s biggest stage,” he said. “If it’s a foul, then football has completely lost its consistency because we’ve seen far stronger challenges allowed throughout the tournament. The referee and VAR were looking for something that just isn’t there.”
‘Moment erased’: Muller laments lost World Cup drama
For Muller, the frustration went beyond the result, focusing on what he described as the emotional impact on players who believed they had won the match.“You work your whole life to play in the World Cup, you fight for every ball, you finally score what could be the winning goal, and then someone sitting in a room hundreds of meters away decides to erase that moment,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking for every player on that field.”Germany eventually lost the contest on penalties after the game ended 1-1 after extra time, Paraguay capitalizing on their chances as Germany missed three spot kicks in a tense encounter.Muller added that while he could accept defeat in sport, he had a hard time accepting the way it came about.“I can accept losing to a better team. I can accept missed opportunities. But I can’t accept a perfectly good goal being taken away from me because of an interpretation that no one understands. Germany deserves better than this and football deserves better than this,” he said.
Paraguay surprise Germany as tournament turnaround unfolds
The defeat marks Germany’s earliest exit from the World Cup in the modern era, while Paraguay progress to the last 16 after one of the biggest shocks of the tournament.The South American side, who are ranked 41st in the world compared to Germany’s 10th, held their nerve in the shootout after surviving extra time following a disallowed goal from Taha.The result adds to a growing list of controversies surrounding VAR at major tournaments and is likely to intensify the debate over the role of technology in the decisive moments of knockouts.
