Former Germany midfielder Didi Hamann has said that Germany did not play one good half of football over three games in the group stages following their elimination from this year’s tournament on Wednesday.
Germany lost 2-0 to South Korea on Wednesday which means that Mexico and Sweden will both advance to the knockout stages following Sweden’s 3-0 win over El Tri in the other Group F game.
Hamann highlighted possible divisions in the German camp and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting with Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil and Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan as possible red flags before Germany’s campaign had even started.
Didi Hamann believes that there will be many questions asked back home considering Germany believed that they were "unbeatable for the next decade".#RTEsoccerhttps://t.co/Kg8U2GxdoO pic.twitter.com/boyGQBAp6B
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 27, 2018
“You can go out in the group stage of a World Cup but you can’t go out the way Germany did,” Hamann said on RTE’s post-match show.
“They have not played a good half hour, a good half even against Sweden, it was more willpower and attitude that got them through.
“For the three games there was no fluidity, no cohesion, we may find out over the next few weeks if there’s been divisions in the camp.
“They had the Erdogan-gate [Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil and Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan] before the start of the tournament that the FA never really dealt with.
“There was just ill-discipline and complacency. I don’t want to be too harsh on them because they’ve been to the semi-final for the last seven tournaments, but as I said at the start, they didn’t give themselves a chance to really get the best result in Russia this year and it’s a very disappointing end to a hugely disappointing tournament for Germany.”
