German football has a bigger problem than a World Cup loss: Scapegoating

Summary

Germany have failed to progress to the round of 16 in the FIFA World Cup for the third time in a row after losing to Paraguay this week. And yet again, the four-time world champions have – instead of diagnosing and treating the root causes of their failure – turned to a now familiar response: finding a scapegoat. Eight years ago, media figures and politicians from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party honed in on two players – Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan – and blamed them after the team stumbled at the group stage and failed to defend their 2014 title. The pair had accepted an invitation to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a state visit to the United Kingdom a month before the start of the World Cup in Russia. The pair, who are of Turkish origin, were pilloried for their decision. When the team fell at the group stage, Ozil announced his international retirement aged just 29, citing the criticism in a letter explaining his decision. “I will no longer stand for being a scapegoat for his incompetence and inability to do his job properly,” Ozil wrote, referring to then-German Football Federation President Reinhard Grindel, who in 2019 resigned amid corruption allegations. Eight years later, in an interview with Magenta TV after the match against Paraguay, Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann tried to find a similar fall guy. At the turn of the century, Germany were no longer producing world class talent and weres reliant on the goalkeeping heroics of Oliver Kahn for tournament success. Much was made of Undav’s Kurdish heritage and immigrant background earlier in the tournament. But if Germany actually want to proceed further in future World Cups, the DFB would be well served to examine why his talent was overlooked by the academy system it put in place to ensure that a new generation of Undavs make their national team debuts at 17 instead of 27.