Fundamentally, though, Germany are still alive because having been outplayed, out-thought and out-fought by Hungary, Jogi Low turned to the only tonic remaining in his medicine kit.
Essentially, cross your fingers and walk away a fool or a king.
When Leon Goretzka’s deflected shot skimmed off Hungary keeper Peter Gulacsi’s foot and into the goal, there were six minutes to go.
Even when they transitioned to a more creative, high-energy style in the modern era, and even when they weren’t particularly good, there was always a plan: There was rarely desperation and hit-and-hope.
So much of what worked in the 4-2 win over Portugal was nowhere to be seen.
Matthias Ginter and Mats Hummels will get the blame for letting Adam Szalai sneak between them and drive his header into the wet pitch and past Manuel Neuer after 11 minutes, but they’re not alone.
They were written off by everyone in part because they were the 19th-ranked team in the tournament, in part because they were without their best player, the injured Dominik Szoboszlai, in part because they were in a group with the reigning European champions, Portugal, they reigning World Cup champions, France and yes, Germany, who rarely screw things up two tournaments in a row.
Instead this team, featuring just four guys who ply their trade in a “Big Five” European league, held Portugal to a 0-0 draw until six minutes from time, had held France to a 1-1 draw and were beating Germany in Germany.
Instead, he got a spot of good fortune as Gulacsi flailed on an innocuous ball into the box, Hummels’ big head sent it goal-wards and Havertz was there to poke it in.
Because Hungary manoeuvred the ball from the kickoff, Szalai hooked a through ball to Andreas Schaefer steaming in from deep, and he beat Manuel Neuer to make it 2-1.
Low must have felt like the guy who finds out his lottery scratch-off has won him $100,000, only to see it slip out of his hands and into a manhole just as he’s celebrating.
Little worked and he had no answers until he chucked on everything he had on the bench and hoped that some combination of individual talent, randomness and luck would get the job done.
Six days in which Low will contemplate the fact that, right now, his team are underdogs and these could be his final days as coach of the national side.
History is full of teams that stunk it up in the group stage and went on to win.
If his team serves up more of what we saw on Wednesday, the run — and Low’s career as Germany boss — will come to an end against England at Wembley.