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World Cup: former stars lay into ‘helpless’ Germany after shock defeat

Joachim Löw is facing the biggest crisis of his 12-year reign as Germany coach after the holders slipped to a shock defeat against Mexico in their World Cup opener in Russia.

Published: 18 June 2018 16:48 CEST
World Cup: former stars lay into ‘helpless’ Germany after shock defeat
Mesut Özil. Photo: DPA

Germany are licking their wounds after slumping 1-0 to a Hirving Lozano strike in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium – their first defeat in their opening game of a World Cup since 1982.

“We won't fall apart,” insisted Löw, but that is exactly what his defence did in the first-half.

Löw is under contract with the German Football Association (DFB) until 2022, but Sunday's result tarnishes the glittering reputation of the 2014 World Cup-winning coach.

“I have not seen the German team so weak at a big tournament for a long time,” said West Germany's 1990 World Cup-winning captain Lothar Matthaeus.

“Almost everything was missing. There were concentration errors, unnecessary bad passes and also the attitude was not there.”

Löw has been heavily criticised in Germany for his tactics and keeping faith in under-performing players, especially Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil.

The decision to leave Manchester City starlet Leroy Sane out of the squad after a dazzling season for the Premier League champions has led to searching questions.

Löw's faith in Ozil, who came to Russia after a series of frustrating performances for Arsenal, and Khedira, who is no longer the midfield dynamo he was, leaves Löw open to accusations of misplaced loyalty.

He got his tactics wrong in Moscow, telling his players they would be pressed high up, only for Mexico to counter-attack from deep at speed.

When their gameplan was shredded, none of Löw's senior players could stem the Mexico attacks or fix the disarray in defence.

'Helpless'

Now the Germans must beat Sweden in Sochi on Saturday to get their Russia 2018 campaign back on track.

The fear in Germany is that the national team will not qualify for the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time since the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal.

The last time they failed to progress beyond the first round of the World Cup was in 1938.

Worryingly for the remaining group matches, the Germans lacked leadership when they needed it most — despite the return of captain Manuel Neuer in goal.

“What bothered me most is that no player is capable of solving a problem when it gets difficult,” Paul Breitner, a 1974 World Cup winner with West Germany, told Munich-based paper TZ.

“It was depressing to see how helpless our team was.”

Löw is under pressure to make changes and only his former captain Philipp Lahm, who lifted the World Cup trophy in 2014, offered hope amid the deluge of criticism.

“They have the experience to turn things around. Sometimes a small setback doesn't hurt to pull the team together,” Lahm said at an event in Moscow.

However, the performance suggests there are deeper problems and the first-half disarray was glaring.

Matthaeus said Marco Reus, Germany's most dangerous player, who only played the last 30 minutes, must start against Sweden.

Warning

German daily Bild demanded Ozil, Khedira, Julian Draxler and Thomas Mueller step up in training this week or be dropped.

“For me, Mesut Ozil was missing speed and body language,” said Matthaeus.

“He has so much freedom from Löw, but nothing comes back from him. Thomas Mueller was also disappointing.”

Centre-backs Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels complained about being isolated at the back.

However, the fleet-footed Mexicans exposed Boateng's lack of pace, while Hummels was on the halfway line when the attack started that led to Lozano's winning goal.

“Against Mexico, the motto was 'it will be OK. At some point, the ball will go in the net',” former international Manfred Schwabl told the Muenchner Merkur newspaper

“Of course, that doesn't work in football, not in the third division and especially not at a World Cup.”

Matthaeus offered a chilling warning.

“Just because Germany are world champions, doesn't mean they will automatically reach the last 16.

“Just a reminder: three of the last four champions all went out in the group stages,” he added after France, Italy and Spain all bowed out early, four years after lifting the World Cup.

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SPORT

Norway’s football clubs to vote on Qatar World Cup boycott

Will Norwegian football star Erling Braut Haaland stay home or play on what fans have dubbed a "cemetery?" This Sunday, a meeting of Norway's football community will decide whether to boycott next year's World Cup in Qatar.

Published: 18 June 2021 11:27 CEST
Norway's football clubs to vote on Qatar World Cup boycott
Norway's forward Erling Haaland (L) and teammates wear jerseys reading "Fair play for migrant workers" before the international friendly football match between Norway and Greece at La Rosaleda stadium in Malaga in preperation for the UEFA European Championships, on June 6, 2021. JORGE GUERRERO / AFP

Under pressure from grassroots activists the Norwegian Football Federation(NFF) has decided to hold an extraordinary congress to decide on whether to pass up football’s showpiece event all together.

The games on the pitches in the Middle Eastern emirate will “unfortunately be like playing on a cemetery,” according to Ole Kristian Sandvik, spokesman of the Norwegian Supporters Alliance (NSA), invoking a commonly used metaphor among opponents of Norway’s participation.

Norway, which has not qualified for a major international competition since Euro 2000, is currently fourth in its World Cup qualifying group behind Turkey, the Netherlands and Montenegro. 

So while qualification seems an uphill task, the result of the vote could have an impact on whether Norway and its young star Haaland — one of the rising stars of world football — continue to play qualifying matches. 

The movement calling for a boycott began north of the Arctic Circle when football club Tromso IL spoke out against turning a blind eye to alleged human rights abuses at the end of February.

“We can no longer sit and watch people die in the name of football,” the first division club proclaimed.

Qatar has faced criticism for its treatment of migrant workers, many of whom are involved in the construction of stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup, with campaigners accusing employers of exploitation and forcing labourers to work in dangerous conditions.

Qatari authorities meanwhile insist they have done more than any country in the region to improve worker welfare.

“There is no doubt that this World Cup should never have been awarded to Qatar,” Tom Hogli, a former professional footballer turned public relations officer for Tromso IL, told AFP.

“The conditions there are abominable and many have lost their lives,” he added.

In March, a spokesman for the Qatari organisers put the number of deaths on the construction sites at “three” since 2014, with another 35 having died away from their workplaces, challenging the heavy toll reported by some rights groups.

Push from fans
The Tromso call began gathering pace in Norway, where clubs operate under a democratic structure, and under pressure from fans, many teams now say “nei” (no).

According to Sandvik, the fans feel that the deaths on the World Cup sites would have been avoided “if they had not had to build hotels, railways and stadiums”.

Nearly half of Norwegians, 49 percent, now say they are in favour of a boycott, while only 29 percent are against it, according to a poll published by newspaper VG on Wednesday.

The Nordic country’s national squad has already protested conditions in Qatar, but stopped short of calling for a boycott.

Before recent Norway games, Borussia Dortmund superstar Haaland, captain Martin Odegaard and the rest of the team have worn t-shirts with slogans like “Human rights on and off the pitch.”

Other countries, like Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark have also followed suit.

FIFA, on the other hand, argue that awarding the hosting of the World Cup in Qatar has opened the door to social progress.

“We know there is still work to be done, but we need to recognise the significant progress achieved in a very short time,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in May.

‘Few successes’ 
While the executive committee of the NFF have said they regret Qatar being awarded the World Cup, they oppose a boycott.

President Terje Svendsen said he thought it was “not the right tool to improve the human rights situation or the working conditions in Qatar,” when speaking at the federation’s ordinary annual congress in March.

According to the NFF, a boycott could end up costing Norway 205 million Norwegian kroner ($24 million, 20 million euros) in fines and compensation as well as lost revenue.

Feeling the pressure from grassroots campaigns, the NFF referred the matter to an extraordinary congress which on Sunday will bring together the eight members of its executive committee, representatives of 18 districts and of hundreds of professional and amateur clubs.

The discussions will be revolve around the findings of an expert committee which, with the exception of two members representing fans, has also come out against a boycott.

“For a boycott to succeed, you need a critical mass behind it, an opposition that calls for it in the country, the UN to put pressure on the
authorities, the business world, the trade unions and civil society to put pressure on it in the long term,” committee chairman Sven Mollekleiv said in a debate hosted by broadcaster TV2.

“Historically, there are few successes,” he said.

Rather than a boycott, the committee recommended 26 measures to consolidate and further the gains made in Qatar but also to ensure that FIFA doesn’t become complicit in so called “sportswashing” — the polishing of a country’s public image through a major sporting event.

Some initial supporters of a boycott, like Tromso’s Hogli, have since sided with these conclusions, although calls for a complete boycott remain.

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