Fair play to Sami Khedira.
A lesser man would have snapped in response to the cheeky question posed by one brazen reporter in the run-up to this weekend’s clash between Germany and Sweden.
The defending world champions are in dire need of three points against Sweden if they are to steady the ship following Sunday’s shock defeat to Mexico.
Three of the last four world champions have failed to progress to the knockout stages in the immediate defence of their titles and Germany could well find themselves in that territory with anything other than a victory on Saturday evening.
Ahead of the Group F game, a Swedish journalist tried to get into Germany midfielder Sami Khedira’s head with a bold line of questioning.
“When you lose against Sweden on Saturday, you’re already on your way home so I have some boarding passes for you and your teammates,” the Swedish reporter said.
Khedira did not rise to the bait, however, and calmly answered the question, denying the interviewer the viral storm-out he was likely seeking.
“Thank you so much but maybe we won’t need it,” Khedira replied. “We don’t want to go back home. We are just thinking about winning this game, the bad start makes it super difficult but we know that we are a strong team.
“We analysed Sweden’s game and we are sure we are winning this game.”
When pressed again, the Juventus man admirably bit his tongue and insisted he would be happy to accept the tickets home on July 16, the day after the World Cup final.
