"It's finished. It's over. We're out," cried Germany's most-read paper, Bild, as the country descended into collective mourning following the 1-0 semi-final defeat to Spain that ended their World Cup dream.
"The whole of Germany is now upset and tears are flowing up and down the country," the paper said, adding, with unusual fairness: "No matter how tough it may be to accept, the defeat was deserved."
"Our guys tried everything. But unfortunately, we just didn't get the right chances. These Spanish, we have to admit, were simply too good for us."
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"1-0. Germany weeps. Spain go though," wrote the regional Hamburger Abendblatt.
"The fairy-tale is over," said weekly Die Zeit on its website.
The more reserved Frankfurter Allgemeine said that Germany's "dream journey" had ended and Spiegel magazine said on its website "Spain destroys Germany's dreams of reaching a final."
Spiegel online judged that the team were "anxious, nervous and played as if hindered."
The Sueddeutsche Zeitung was also critical of Joachim Loew's players.
"The German team showed too much respect for the Spanish and weren't able to push their opponents back enough."
But Berlin's popular tabloid "BZ" chose to look more optimistically towards the future, with hopes high for Germany's young team that probably exceeded expectations in this World Cup.
"Shame, boys. But you'll be back," it said on its website.
"It was still a great World Cup."
