After Lennart Karl’s World Cup exit due to injury, many fans and experts would have preferred to see Said El Mala from Cologne as a replacement and not Assan Ouedraogo, who was nominated later. A world champion now agrees with this opinion.
Because if Effzeh legend Lukas Podolski has his way, El Mala definitely deserved the nomination.
“I don’t know why he wasn’t taken into account. Maybe he doesn’t fit into the system, maybe the coach doesn’t see him in the role, maybe the phone call with the coach wasn’t that great,” said the 2014 world champion in an interview with “Sport1”
But Podolski is certain in his assessment of national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s communication. He said it was “a bit unfortunate”: “If you say that a player is no longer in training and therefore someone else is nominated, then that raises questions. You could also have told El Mala: ‘Stay at FC, keep fit, continue to work according to an individual plan and be ready if something happens.'”
Nagelsmann justified Ouédraogo’s subsequent nomination, among other things, by saying that he was “in the mood” and “in rhythm”. El Mala, on the other hand, “didn’t train for two and a half weeks, only did a few runs, his last game was on May 16th,” explained Nagelsmann.
Poldi not in World Cup fever
Regardless, Poldi doesn’t have World Cup fever anyway. Getting up at night for the World Cup is no longer an option. For him, the XXL tournament in the USA, Mexico and Canada simply does not have the same significance as previous sporting events in North America.
“The only reason I used to get up at night was because of the Chicago Bulls or Mike Tyson,” said the 41-year-old. But he won’t get up for the nightly World Cup games: “No, I’m out of there.”
The 2014 world champion would only make an exception in possible knockout games for the DFB selection on the German night. “Then I’ll be there. Otherwise, I don’t base my daily routine on the tournament,” said Podolski. “My focus now is on the children and not on football.”