Pascal Groß Reflects on Germany's Penalty Shoot-out Heartbreak

Pascal Groß had seen this story coming long before anyone else wanted to talk about it.

He stood on the edge of that fateful penalty shoot-out for Germany, ready if called, but Julian Nagelsmann never turned to him. Germany went out after 120 tense minutes and a 1-1 draw, beaten from the spot. On the pitch, TV cameras caught Joshua Kimmich desperately searching for volunteers once it became clear the first five designated takers would not be enough.

Leon Goretzka declined. So Jonathan Tah, a centre-back, walked forward as Germany’s sixth taker and smashed his effort over – the first missed penalty of his professional career.

Groß watched it all unfold. He had prepared for exactly this moment, had run through the scenario in his head. But he has no desire to reopen the wound.

"I was prepared for this scenario, but I don't want to rake it over now," he told kicker when asked about whether he might have stepped up in the shoot-out. The subject, he explained, never resurfaced with Nagelsmann afterward. "No, there was no conversation. It hurt him enormously too, of course, everyone was devastated," Groß said.

The pain of that night blended into a quiet ending with the national team. At the World Cup in North America, Groß’s role had already shrunk. He played just 17 minutes, coming off the bench in the group match against Ecuador. That was it.

When Jürgen Klopp took over as Germany head coach, Groß’s name disappeared from the squad list. Given his age – now 35 – it was hardly a shock, even if he had not yet officially closed the door on his international career at the time.

Distance brought clarity.

"After the World Cup, with a bit of distance, I had already decided that the matter was over for me," he admitted. There was no dramatic showdown, no emotional farewell call. "I did not have a conversation with the head coach. For me, not being nominated is not a problem."

The numbers underline what Germany are walking away from. Groß has 19 caps and one goal for his country, a late-blooming international whose technical quality and game intelligence always seemed to fit better on the training pitch than in the public debate.

For Brighton, though, there is no doubt. On the south coast, he is not a peripheral figure or a reluctant sixth penalty taker. He is the heartbeat.

So far this season, Groß has exploded out of the blocks. The Seagulls head into the international break sitting third in the Premier League table, driven by their veteran playmaker. Three goals. Four assists. Five league matches.

At 35, the chapter with the DFB is closed. His form suggests he is nowhere near finished. The question now is not whether Germany will call again – it’s how far Brighton can ride the renaissance of a player who quietly chose his ending on the international stage and is writing something far more thrilling at club level.