Why Florian Wirtz was the one bright spark in Germany's World Cup exit to Paraguay

Florian Wirtz surrounded by the Paraguayan defence
Florian Wirtz surrounded by the Paraguayan defenceJewel Samad / AFP / AFP / Profimedia

Although he didn’t score at the World Cup, Liverpool's Florian Wirtz was still one of the few bright spots for Germany.

The Liverpool playmaker recorded his third assist for Germany in the loss to Paraguay and received a rating of 8.8 from Flashscore, the best among all players in the match. What’s behind that score?

Above all, he earned it as the driving force of Germany’s play, which otherwise lacked creativity and was sluggish and slow.

Against an opponent sitting deep at the back, the favourites struggled to create chances in dangerous areas.

Germany sent 77 passes into the box, the most at this World Cup, and that doesn't even include corners. The problem was that most of those passes went into a dense forest of Paraguayan defenders and rarely found a German player’s foot. Out of nearly eighty, only 20 were successful, and of those, Wirtz delivered 13, accounting for 65%.

Wirtz’s passing map in the match against Paraguay.
Wirtz’s passing map in the match against Paraguay.Opta by Stats Perform

In total, he set up four shooting opportunities for his teammates, and from his cross into the box, Kai Havertz equalised with a header in the 54th minute.

Wirtz's passes in the match accumulated an xA value of 0.67, which is very high - the 10th best single-game performance by a player in the tournament.

He also recorded 12 progressive carries, one of which ended in a shot, and four successful dribbles.

Thanks to all these stats, he achieved a very high rating for playmaking in the Flashscore evaluation.

On top of that, Wirtz delivered solid numbers in virtually every aspect, helping his team defensively as well. 

Twice he managed to win the ball from an opponent in a duel, once near the opposition’s penalty area. He succeeded in eight out of twelve duels in total and also recovered the ball five times, twice in Germany’s attacking third.

Click here for more on Germany vs Paraguay

Flashscore introduced a new football player rating system for the 2026 World Cup. Whether you’re a casual fan of the beautiful game or love to dive into the data, this is the perfect player evaluation for you.

Wil jij jouw toestemming voor het tonen van reclames voor weddenschappen intrekken?
Ja, verander instellingen