The German national soccer team delivers a decent performance against Japan for a long time. Not outstanding, but in such a way that in the end there really has to be a win. But things are different. Instead of victory there is trouble. Also with defense chief Antonio Rüdiger.
The German national team surprisingly lost their opening game at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar against Japan. Defense chief Antonio Rüdiger, one of the best players in the DFB dress, foamed afterwards: “It’s ridiculous,” the giant in the service of Real Madrid described the completely unnecessary bankruptcy. The boss was always able to repair his own insecurities in the defensive alliance with Rüdiger, Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Süle. Germany had the game under control for 65 minutes, had created a number of chances and should have been in the lead. Above all, there was a lack of efficiency with the numerous opportunities.
TV expert Dietmar Hamann then expressed clear criticism of the DFB team and buttoned up Rüdiger of all people. When the score was 1-0 for Germany, the giant had raised his knees provocatively in a running duel on the left German defense against Takuma Asano, the defense chief ran the ball out of reach for his opponent. Kick off, Rüdiger grinned clearly visible to himself.
This action was too much for Hamann. “That was symptomatic of the unprofessionalism and arrogance in the German game and the disrespect that couldn’t be surpassed because he made the opponent look ridiculous,” the ex-national player chose clear words in his “Sky” column. “Rüdiger laughed afterwards,” explained the 49-year-old. A few minutes later, Japan had turned the game, Germany is threatened with the next World Cup preliminary round after Russia’s bankruptcy in 2018. “I think only the Japanese are laughing tonight,” wrote Hamann.
But was it actually a fit of arrogance on the part of the German defense chief? In the summer, Rüdiger, who is generally not suspected of taking the game and his sport too lightly, explained in an interview with Sport1: “I do it because I think I’m faster that way. When people find it amusing I like to laugh along with you.”
In a game with Chelsea, which the defender left for Real Madrid in the summer, he used his special turbo for other purposes: “Many will remember the scene in Chelsea’s game against Newcastle last season. I’ll be honest: I deliberately made a few mistakes because it was just too quiet in the stadium for me during this game. I wanted to wake people up with it,” said Rüdiger. Takuma Asano, whom Rüdiger ran off with his Gazelle insert, scored the goal a little later that brought Japan very close to the round of 16 and Germany very close to being eliminated from the preliminary round.
