Irish Daily Mirror

Bierhoff: Big mistake to go for Ozil

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GERMANY made a huge mistake taking Arsenal star Mesut Ozil to the World Cup, claimed team manager Oliver Bierhoff.

Ozil (above) failed to sparkle as the reigning champions crashed out at the group stage after just one win from three matches in Russia.

Ozil and German team-mate Ilkay Gundogan posed with Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the tournament, with their loyalty to Germany called into question. Bierhoff , the man who scored the first golden goal in the history of internatio­nal football, said: “We have never forced players of the German national squad to do something but always tried to convince them of a cause. We did not succeed with Mesut.

“In that respect, considerat­ions should have been made about whether to leave out Ozil.

“I believe the fact that Mesut and Ilkay took the pictures did not distract the squad so much. But the debate afterwards did.”

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