KROOSING FOR A BRUISING
Germany fly home to face the music after their Russian humiliation and Real star admits: It’s a dark day... we have no excuses, we didn’t perform
TONI KROOS reflected on “a very black day” for German football as the deposed world champions looked for answers as to why it all went wrong in Russia.
Kroos, the Real Madrid midfielder who appeared to have rescued Joachim Loew’s World Cup with a last-minute winner against Sweden on Saturday only for South Korea to send them home four days later, admits he is struggling to come to terms with Germany’s humiliation.
“I don’t know if was the darkest day for German football but it was definitely a black day.
“I don’t think anyone in Germany expected this, I don’t think anyone in the world did.
“We expected the World Cup to be another long tournament for us and the only thing I can say is that after three games we weren’t able to play our best at any stage.
“At the end we did not do enough, to be honest.
“If we can’t score a goal in 90 minutes against South Korea then we don’t deserve to go through. “We got what we deserved. We were not unlucky. “I think we tried our best, it wasn’t a lack of effort. We tried everything to play football, but we just couldn’t get going.
“Of course we are very sad and we were also very angry, but that helps nothing now.”
Germany flew home yesterday to a nation in shock.
The World Cup holders had reached at least the semi-finals of each of the last four tournaments.
But it was Mexico and Sweden who progressed from a group that Germany were expected to dominate.
Coach Loew, who has been in charge for 12 years and in May signed a contract that will take him to 2022, is under pressure to offer his resignation.
But the German federation insisted ahead of the shock 2-0 defeat to the Koreans they were ready to back their man under any circumstances. And once the dust has settled, Loew (left) will be tasked with reshaping a squad that has grown old in the space of a fortnight.
Germany won the Confederations Cup and European Under21 championship last summer. And seasoned campaigners like Mesut Ozil, Ilkay Gundogan, Sami Khedira, Marco Reus, Mario Gomez, Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng and even misfiring Thomas Muller all face a fight to prove this World Cup was a oneoff aberration.
Loew came under fire before the tournament for leaving out Manchester City’s flying winger Leroy Sane.
The 22-year-old had an outstanding season for City, racking up 14 goals and 17 assists and winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
And former Germany captain Michael Ballack took to Twitter to reflect the mood of the nation by retweeting a post he wrote when the squad was named in June.
It read: “Leroy Sane, the best young player in the Premier League, has to stay at home? Loew is under massive pressure with his decision.”