Joachim Loew. AFP FRANKFURT, Germany — Germany’s chastened national team arrived home Thursday after its shock World Cup exit plunged the football-mad nation into mourning and left the future of coach Joachim Loew in balance.

The four-time champion landed at Frankfurt airport shortly after 3 pm, a day after its humiliating 0-2 defeat to South Korea at Russia’s Kazan Arena that sent it packing in the first round.

“The Mannschaft did not demonstrate what it can usually do,” Loew said of the team’s uncharacteristic finish at the bottom of the table in the group stage.

“As coach, I bear the responsibility and must of course ask myself why we didn’t succeed. That will require a bit of time, and we will hold talks about it,” he said.

“We need far-reaching measures, we need clear changes.”

In a mea culpa on their official Twitter account, the entire German Mannschaft apologized to a country in agony.

“Dear fans, we’re just as disappointed as you,” the tweet reads.

“We’re sorry we didn’t play like world champions. That’s why we deserved to be eliminated, as bitter as it is.”

Defender Mats Hummels earlier also tweeted out his regrets with a succinct “sorry…” and a crying-face emoji.

German fans and media were united in their damning verdict of the titleholders’ World Cup campaign, which will be remembered as the first time since 1938 that the country has failed to make it past the first round.

Guenther Kuemmel, 67, who delivers newspapers, went to Frankfurt airport armed with homemade signs including one reading “a sporting disgrace.”

“It must be painful, then something will change,” he told AFP, adding that through the team’s short-lived campaign, he “never got the feeling that they want to win.”