Division of camps has become one of the reasons for Germany’s collapse at the World Cup in Qatar. The Bundesliga was eliminated in the group stage after losing to Japan, drawing with Spain and only beating Costa Rica.
In a “Bild” material, it is claimed that the coach Hanzi Flick tolerated the players of his former club Bayern (Munich), and this seriously irritated the other players. Trouble began before the Japan match when Manuel Neuer and Leon Goretzka insisted the entire squad pose with their mouths gagged for the official team photo in protest of FIFA’s ban on the use of the One Love captain’s armband. Most of the other contestants were against it.
During the match, many players were surprised by Flick’s decision to replace Ilkay Gundogan with Goretzka. Then came the turn in favor of the “Samurai”, and Gundogan was furious at being taken out of the game.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Kai Havertz have also been unhappy with their role as reserves. Especially angry was the guard of Barcelona, who never recorded a single minute of the championship.
“Bild” gives an example with the starting place of Niklas Süle, who played in Bayern during Flick’s time. The centre-back played 90 minutes in each of the matches, although he performed poorly against Japan. On the other hand, Nico Schlotterback sat on the bench for the next two matches, and Matthias Ginter appeared only in the last seconds of the meeting with Costa Rica.
