Monday, July 9, 2018

30 MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018
Mesut Ozil’s father said
Sunday his son should quit
Germany’s national squad after
he was made a “scapegoat” for
their shock first-round defeat at
the World Cup.
Ozil, 29, has come in for
sharp criticism in Germany
after the holders crashed out in
Russia, finishing bottom of their
group.
Pressure had already been
mounting on the Arsenal
midfielder in the run-up
to the tournament over a
controversial photograph with
Turkey President RecepTayyip
Erdogan, which sparked
questions about his loyalty to
Germany.
On Thursday, team boss
Oliver Bierhoff suggested that
perhaps Germany should have
considered dropping Ozil, who
has Turkish roots, after his
failure to explain himself over
the issue.
But the midfielder’s father,
Mustafa Ozil, in an interview
with Bildam Sonntag, said:
“This statement is insolent. In
my opinion, it is aimed at saving
one’s own skin.”
Bierhoff had backtracked
Thousands of cheering
and flag-waving Russian
fans thanked their disappointed
players on Sunday after the host
nation’s fairytale World Cup run
came to a crushing end with a
shootout loss to Croatia.
Coach Stanislav Cherchesov
led his team onto a stage to a
heroes’ welcome in a Moscow
fan zone on a sunny day that
was meant to put a patriotic
exclamation point on Russia’s
ability to beat the odds.
The long-suffering Russians
entered the biggest event in sport
as its lowest-ranked nation but
Brazil’s surprise defeat in the
World Cup has stunned fans
in the Lebanese capital Beirut,
where football supporters have
long put their hopes in the Latin
American side.
“We are all Brazilian, we all
love Brazil to death whatever
happens,” said Ali, dressed in
a skin-tight shirt, after seeing
his heroes lose 2-1 to Belgium
on Friday and crash out of the
tournament in Russia.
The 24-year-old watched the
match in the Shiite outskirts of
Beirut, where Brazilian flags hang
from buildings and shop windows
are filled with life-size posters of
players.
“A supporter who loves his
team, it’s in victory but also in
defeat,” said Ali, who works in
deliveries for a multinational
firm.
Millions of Lebanese have
emigrated to Brazil since the end
of the 19th century -- including
the family of Brazilian President
Michel Temer -- ensuring
enduring support when it comes
to football.
FIFA WORLD CUP RUSSIA 2018 June 14 – July 15
Ozil should quit German
team, says father
•Ozil
on Friday, saying that he “was
wrong” to put Ozil under undue
pressure.
But German Football
Federation
chief
ReinhardGrindel has now
waded in, arguing that Ozil
must go public.
His failure to speak out
“has disappointed many fans,
because they have questions and
expect answers”, Grindel told
Kicker magazine in an interview
to be published Monday.
“They are rightly expecting
this answer. That’s why it is
absolutely clear to me that for
his own interest, Mesut should
speak out when he returns from
his holidays.”
Ozil senior defended his son
for not clarifying his position
publicly.
“He no longer wants to
explain himself, he no longer
wants to have to defend himself
all the time. He has been playing
for nine years in the German
team... including becoming
world champions with the
A-team.
“He has contributed a lot for
this country. It has always been:
if we win, we win together.
“But when we lose, we lose
because of Ozil? He is now
getting whistled at and made
a scapegoat. I can understand
if he feels insulted,” said the
midfielder’s father.
Mesut had agreed to have a
photograph taken with Erdogan
only out of “politeness” and it
was never meant to be a political
statement, he added.
Calling his son’s treatment
“unfair”, Ozil senior said “he
needs to decide for himself. But
if I were in his place, I’d say --
thanks a lot but that’s it.”
Russia players find solace in fans
ended up coming up just short
of reaching their first World Cup
semi-final in 52 years.
They lost to Croatia 4-3 on
penalties after extra-time ended
with the sides deadlocked at 2-2
in the Black Sea resort of Sochi
on Saturday.
“You were not the 12th
player -- you were the 12th,
13th, 14th, 15th and 16th
players,” Cherchesov told the
crowd gathered on a scenic hill
overlooking Luzhniki Stadium.
“We felt your support from
the first second.”
The national team has been
Brazil’s defeat hits Lebanon
HaydarBaddar, 38, installed a
projector on his doorstep, which
attracted dozens of fans for the tie
with Belgium.
Many in the male-majority
crowd donned Brazil’s yellow
jersey for the occasion, while
families watched from their
balconies as the sound of drums
and vuvuzelas filled the narrow
street.
“Here in our part of town we
see Brazil, the neighbourhoods
and the streets of Brazil, and it’s
like our home,” said Baddar, a
shop owner with a neatly trimmed
black beard.
In Beirut’s southern
neighbourhoods, “children
play ball on the street. There’s
no football ground -- when the
evening comes, you see them
playing everywhere,” he added.
Brazil’s defeat by Belgium
brings tears to the crowd, met with
mocking wails from some women
at the end of the street. Baddar opts
for firing his pistol into the air.
With residents enduring
economic woes, inadequate public
services and widespread social
gaining followers and drawing
increasing political attention
from government leaders with
every win.
President Vladimir Putin
has invited Cherchesov and his
charges to the Kremlin and Prime
Minister Dmitry Medvedev came
down into the players’ locker
room after the loss.
The men in red themselves
sounded inconsolable on
Saturday.
Their mood appeared to have
brightened by the time they had
returned to Moscow to greet their
worshipping fans.
inequality, football is a welcome
distraction from daily hardships.
“We’re in a country where
the situation is bad. This
neighbourhood is very poor,” said
unemployed Hussein Mohamed.
• Croatia players celebrating after beating hosts Russia 4-3 on penalties in their 2018 Wo
Saturday. Photo: AFP
Fernandinho target of racist in
Brazilian
midfielder
Fernandinho and
family members have been
victims of racist insults
on social media since his
World Cup own goal on
Friday, when Brazil was
eliminated by Belgium in
the quarterfinals of the
World Cup in Russia.
Several internet users
STATISTICS
•Brazil have been knocked out of the World Cup by a European
side in each of the last four tournaments (against France in 2006,
Netherlands in 2010, Germany in 2014 and Belgium in 2018).
•Belgium have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup for
the second time. Their first was in 1986 when they lost to eventual
champions Argentina.
•Croatia will be playing in only their second semi-finals. Their
first was in 1998 in France, when they came third.
•Saudi Arabia were the team with the fewest yellow cards in
Russia 2018. They collected only one yellow card before their group
stage exit.
•Kevin De Bruyne was the 100th different player to score a goal
at the 2018 World Cup. After the quarterfinals, 105 different players
have scored at the tournament
•205 yellow cards – with an average of 3.42 cards per match –
have been issued so far. Four red cards – an average of 0.07 per
match – have also been issued.
•Uruguay’s Oscar Tabárez – 71 years and 104 days in the first
game against Egypt, after Otto Rehhagel (71 years and 317 days at
the 2010 World Cup), is the second oldest World Cup coach ever.
• Senegal’s Aliou Cissé Senegal at 42 years and 87 days in the
first game against Poland is the youngest coach at the tournament.
referred to the Manchester
City player as a “monkey,”
while some even threatened
to kill him after Brazil’s 2-1
loss.
The player’s wife,
Rosa Glaucia, also found
her Instagram account
full of insults. “Your
husband’s (screw up)
ruined everything,” was
one comment from guih_
nevetti.
Fernandinho’s mother
had to close her Instagram
•Fernandinho
account due to the heap of
offensive comments on her
profile.
Shocked by the racist
messages, dozens of
internet users rushed to
Fernandinho’sdefence on
social networks.
On the Mundo Negro
site, which specialises in
black culture, a message
illustrated by a photo of
Fernandinho underscored
that “the defeat of Brazil and
the own goal do not justify