The German national football team, which until now has been busy wearing rainbow armbands instead of football and its related mission, could be eliminated from the Qatar football tournament on Sunday evening.
The match against the Spaniards will be a life-and-death battle for Neuer, and the German team can say goodbye to the tournament for the second consecutive World Cup without making it past the group stage.
Gábor Lantos' on-the-ground report on the 22nd FIFA World Cup from Qatar.
The situation in the German group is especially changing with Japan's unexpected victory. In the Japan-Costa Rica match starting at 11:00 a.m., if the Asian team wins, they would have 6 points in the group, Costa Rica would have 0 points. At that point, the Germans would already be aware that if they lose to the Spaniards, they will be eliminated from the World Cup. Just like in 2018, in Russia. True, then they could still hope after the second group stage.
Before the start of the World Cup, everyone expected that the German and Spanish national teams would come to their match against each other with 3 points each. With Japan winning, everything changed. In addition, the Spanish team can now also eliminate the Germans from the World Cup, eliminating a team from the field that is capable of resurrection at any time.
It is true that the German ship had already been fired.
Now we are not thinking about the 2018 World Cup, but about one of the stops on the road to Qatar, the Germany-North Macedonia World Cup qualifier held in Düsseldorf, which the visiting team won. This was already a serious warning to the Germans. Of course, that still got them to Qatar.
At the same time, one cannot fail to notice how much the sacred mission of the players of the German team reduces the popularity of the team, and how much all this can take away attention from what these athletes really have to do. Even the English are beginning to realize that kneeling antics lead nowhere:
in the last England-United States match, this performance lasted for 2-3 seconds, but it was much more interesting that the American players did not even think of kneeling.
Why would they? They came here to play football. Before the game they lost against the Japanese, the Germans were busy with everything else. Where do they put the rainbow symbols created to support the LGBTQ community, if FIFA did not allow them to wear the armbands. What should be another circus, which the whole world is talking about, agreed upon before the match? That they keep their mouths shut in the team photo. It was great fun, especially considering Japan won the game.
But the holy mission, the sense of mission, with which Germany's national team came to Qatar (to show how great freedom fighters they are) is only interesting until the real performance puts a stop to the fun. We have not seen anything like this from any member of the Spanish national team. This is no coincidence either, because the young Spanish team came here to win the World Cup. Even the Danes, who were so combative before the World Cup, are much quieter than they seemed before Qatar. In the great war of ideas, the Germans and the English joined hands, but the two of them were almost left alone.
At the usual press conference before the match, the national team captain, Hansi Flick, appeared alone he did not bring any players with him. Flick explained the absence of the players by saying that it took too long to drive to the venue and he didn't want to put anyone through that. With this, the German association violated another rule, because at least one player would be required to appear at these press conferences. Therefore FIFA will surely punish them. However, this is the least of their problems, because while the team was preparing for the clash against the Spaniards, the Germans were busy suing FIFA at the International Court of Arbitration for Sport because Manuel Neuer was not allowed to wear the rainbow armband.
The tension in the German team is enormous. We can't even fathom the shame that a possible relegation would mean. This means that the German Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, can also sit in the stands with a rainbow armband during the match against Spain - as she did in the first match. It will hardly help, let alone give strength to the Germans against the Spanish.
Featured image: The Japanese team showed how to beat Germany / AFP/Anne-Christine Poujoulat
