The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is in full swing. What news is there about the eliminated German national team? How are the other teams doing? What happens off the pitch at the controversial desert tournament?
The most important news is here in the LIVE ticker sport.de.
Decision made at Neymar
Van Gaal in party mode
One-Love-Zoff in the DFB-Team
Matthäus sees no alternative for Flick
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+++ 16:57: ex-national player criticizes the DFB +++
Former national soccer player Tabea Kemme, currently working as a World Cup expert for “MagentaTV”, has little hope of the crisis summit between the head of the German Football Association and the sporting leadership of the national team.
“What comes together is a clique,” said the 30-year-old in an interview with “Münchner Merkur/tz”.
According to media reports, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf, his deputy Hans-Joachim Watzke, national coach Hansi Flick and managing director Oliver Bierhoff are to meet in Frankfurt/Main on Wednesday morning. “There are four heads, there are four men who are fully involved in the football business, plus one with a political past. I lack the experts in this group,” said Kemme.
In their view, football has become entrenched in a bubble. “You don’t get other people who might question what kind of nonsense we sometimes do. There is also the really big problem: the greater the criticism, the greater the fear for the posts,” said the Olympic champion from 2016: “As soon as another expertise wants to enter our industry, the door is slammed.”
+++ 15:27: South Korea coach struggles with Neymar’s return +++
The possible comeback of Brazil’s superstar Neymar is extremely inconvenient for South Korea’s coach Paulo Bento before the round of 16. “We would have preferred it without Neymar,” said the 53-year-old on Sunday.
But in the end you always have to play against the best at a World Cup. South Korea is in the knockout stages of a World Cup for the first time since 2010 and will meet five-time world champions Brazil in the round of 16 on Monday (8:00 p.m.).
Neymar scored twice against South Korea in a 5-1 draw in a friendly in June. The 30-year-old will be available again on Monday after recovering from a foot injury. Bento, who was allowed to return to the coaching zone after a red suspension, assessed the result of the summer as irrelevant: “A comparison is impossible. It will be a different game with other players.”
In preparing for the game, the Portuguese said he limited himself primarily to video analysis and criticized the short break between the respective games. “It’s not fair to have to play every game after just 72 hours. We have to accept it if FIFA decides so,” said Bento.
+++ 1:50 p.m. Neymar decision made +++
Superstar Neymar is available again for the Brazilians in the round of 16 of the World Cup. When asked by a journalist in Doha, national coach Tite answered succinctly: “Yes.”
The Selecao will start the knockout phase of the tournament in Qatar on Monday (8 p.m. / ZDF and Magenta TV) against South Korea.
The 30-year-old trained with the ball for the first time after his foot injury in the opening game against Serbia (2-0). “I feel good, I knew I would do it now,” Neymar wrote on social media, along with photos from training.
+++ 1:33 p.m .: Van Gaal in a party mood after the Oranje victory +++
The players of the Dutch national team celebrated their entry into the World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday evening. Coach Louis van Gaal once again showed himself to be a party beast.
At the press conference, the coach first thanked his match winner Denzel Dumfries, who had previously been named FIFA Player of the Match after scoring one goal and providing two assists against the USA, with a big kiss on the cheek.
“I gave him a big kiss on Thursday and now I’m doing it again,” commented the Fox coach on his action.
Later in the evening, video footage from the association showed the Bonds coach returning to the team hotel dancing with his players.
The Elftal won their round of 16 game against the USA 3-1 on Saturday afternoon and can continue to dream of their first World Cup title.
+++ 1:14 p.m .: Japan wants to make history +++
Germany conqueror Japan wants to create history at the World Cup in Qatar and survive the round of 16 for the first time. “We’ve never progressed, but we hope we win and make history,” said defender Yuto Nagatomo before the duel with Croatia on Monday (4 p.m. / ZDF and MagentaTV).
The team was “self-confident” as the winners of Group E, explained the 36-year-old: “We believe that we can do it.” National coach Hajime Moriyasu expects his players to “play boldly” against the runner-up world champion. Nagatomo also emphasized: “No matter how hard we have worked on everything – if we are afraid, it will be useless on the field.”
Japan learned from the knockout round defeat in Russia in 2018 against Belgium (2: 3), said the coach: “The experience was valuable.” Since then, Japanese football has evolved. “The individual players have improved,” said Moriyasu when asked what has changed: “Japan has always been a team that can play organized. But if the individual players are not strong, that’s not enough.”
He will “never forget” the game against Belgium, Nagatomo said. The team is now “the strongest in Japanese World Cup history, we want to win against Croatia”.
+++ 11.38 a.m .: One Love Zoff in the DFB team +++
A number of observers also attributed the fact that the German national soccer team was not able to call up their best form at the World Cup in Qatar to the dispute over the One Love armband. The setting of political signs probably played a bigger role within the team and certainly caused conflicts.
As the “Sportschau” reports, there were different opinions within the squad as to whether and how the DFB team should address political issues after FIFA’s intervention in Qatar.
More about this here!
+++ 09:58: FIFA criticized for Siebert +++
Former FIFA referee Thorsten Kinhöfer has severely criticized the world football association for the inadequate protection of the German World Cup referee Daniel Siebert.
“I’m really getting a headache: Inside, there are tons of FIFA chiefs running around with folders under their arms and buttons in their ears. But I missed the security staff who guided the referees safely into the catacombs,” Kinhöfer wrote in his column in the picture on Sunday: “It’s better organized in every district league game.”
Siebert was attacked violently by the South American players after two-time world champions Uruguay lost the World Cup. Despite beating Ghana 2-0 (2-0) in the group final, Uruguay missed out on the round of 16. Captain Luis Suarez’s side were missing a goal. The Uruguayans blamed Siebert for denying them a penalty.
“I can understand the (subjective) displeasure. When you have to decide such contentious scenes as a referee, one party always feels betrayed,” wrote Kinhöfer: “But the Uruguayans have (once again) completely overshot the mark.”
+++ 7:19 a.m .: Strange curse for the DFB team +++
Superstitious people do not have good news for German football. At the World Cup in Qatar, a law continued that can have devastating effects on the national team. No reigning winner of the Confederations Cup has ever become world champion.
The DFB team won the 2017 event, which was once held as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, with a hopeful young team. Eight players from the current World Cup squad headed by national coach Hansi Flick were in Russia at the time. The problem: the competition has been abolished, there will be no successor winner. The football curse hangs on the national team.
The evidence: Both in 2018 and this year in Qatar, the DFB selection failed in the World Cup group phase. The Confed Cup winners Argentina (1994), Brazil (1998, 2006, 2010 and 2014) and France (2002) also remained uncrowned at the next World Cup tournament. So Germany will never be soccer world champion again? The only solution for the DFB is probably an application to FIFA to reintroduce the competition in summer 2025, a year before the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA.
Even worse: the chances for the home EM 2024 are bad. The Confed curse obviously also extends to the European title fights. Denmark (1996), France (2004) and Germany (2021) were unlucky as holders of the Mini World Cup at the next European Championship.
+++ 7:01 a.m .: Matthäus sees no alternative for Flick +++
After the early exit from the World Cup, Lothar Matthäus accused the German Football Association (DFB) of not having got the debate about the “One Love” armband banned by the world association FIFA under control.
“The DFB negligently failed to make a clear decision in time so that the focus could be on football,” wrote the record German international in an article for the “Bild” newspaper.
Matthäus also criticized Oliver Bierhoff. The DFB director is rightly criticized, after all the results have not been right for five years. “So you have to ask if he’s still the right one! Of course it’s also his responsibility that the pad issue escalated.”
National coach Hansi Flick, on the other hand, strengthened Matthäus. Personal consequences should not be ruled out after the World Cup in the preliminary round, wrote the 61-year-old. “Nevertheless, I think that Hansi Flick must remain national coach, and I don’t see any better available alternative.” The former world champion captain explained: “Hansi has what it takes. And is self-critical enough to learn from his mistakes.”
+++ 8:53 p.m .: Neymar back in training +++
Nine days after his ankle injury, Brazil’s soccer star Neymar has resumed ball training, fueling hopes of playing in the World Cup round of 16 against South Korea on Monday (8 p.m. CET / ZDF and MagentaTV). In a video published by the national association CBF, the 30-year-old can be seen without any symptoms warming up with the ball in the circle of players and during shot training.
The Paris St. Germain striker suffered a ligament injury in his right ankle in the opening game against Serbia (2-0) and missed the Selecao in the other two group games against Switzerland (1-0) and Cameroon (0-1). noticeable. The green light for his assignment should only be given after the final training session on Sunday.
Striker Gabriel Jesus and left-back Alex Telles will be sidelined through injury for the remainder of the World Cup. According to the FIFA regulations, a subsequent nomination by the Selecao is no longer possible. Both players suffered knee injuries against Cameroon.
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