Mats slams ‘arrogance’
Baku – Mats Hummels has accused his Germany team-mates of being “arrogant” in Sunday’s 4-1 win in Azerbaijan which left the defending champions with five straight wins in World Cup qualifiers.
The Germans leaked their first goal since July, but extended their perfect record in Russia 2018 qualifiers as Andre Schuerrle (above) scored twice in Baku.
“We were rather arrogant today, which isn’t nice, and we made life harder for ourselves than it should have been,” Hummels admitted to broadcaster RTL.
The Bayern Munich defender said too much possession was given casually away and there were sloppy challenges from Germany.
First-half goals by Schuerrle, Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez put Germany 3-1 up at the break after Azerbaijan midfielder Dimitrij Nazarov had netted an early equaliser.
It was the first goal Germany had conceded following seven previous clean sheets – a national team record – dating back to their 2-0 defeat against France in the semifinals of Euro 2016.
Schuerrle then added a late fourth goal to put the result beyond doubt.
Germany were at near fullstrength, but coach Joachim Loew agreed they were far from perfect.
“I am satisfied, but there was some negligence,” said Loew, whose greatest success in his decade in charge was steering Germany to the 2014 World Cup title.
“The game we delivered wasn’t up to our standards.”
But after group rivals the Netherlands crashed 2-0 against Bulgaria on Saturday, Loew praised his side for shutting the door on Azerbaijan.
This was Germany’s fifth win in five World Cup qualifiers, leaving them top of Group C with 20 goals scored and just one conceded.
It was also their eighth game unbeaten, including friendlies and qualifiers, since losing to Les Bleus in Marseille last July.
Schuerrle, whose second goal nine minutes from time sealed the win, rewarded the faith shown by Loew despite a series of below-par displays for Borussia Dortmund.
“It was a hard bit of work, we lost a few too many balls and were a bit too loose in the challenge,” he admitted. –