Despite their shocking early departure from theRussia World Cup in 2018,Germany led by Hansi Flick entered the World Cup 2022 in Qatar as one of the favorites. They were predicted to breeze through theGroup Stage despite being placed in Group E with Spain, Costa Rica, and Japan.
However, a4-2 victory against Costa Rica in the last match of Group Edidn’t prevent theDFBTeamfrom being eliminated from the Qatar tournament.This was their second consecutive early exit from the World Cup, which came as a shock given the country’s four-time title and reputation as a soccer juggernaut with a deep bench full of skilled players.
Some similarities may be seen between the abrupt departures. Germany crashed out ofthe 2018 World Cup in Russia after a 2-2 draw with South Korea in the last group game, and they were eliminated from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by another Asian side.
Spanish journalist puts blame on Toni Kroosfor Germany’s World Cup exit 18 months after his international retirement
Toni Kroos, despite having finished his career with Germany over a year ago, has surprisingly been rated as one of the poorest-performing players at the World Cup.El Chiringuito, a widely watched Spanish chat program, often takes very dramatic twists. Usually, the aim is to make people laugh or be shocked, but Cristina Cubero managed to elicit both reactions by accident.
To a question about which players were the most disappointing in the World Cup, Cubero began by naming another Madrid player, the Brazilian Vinicius, before mentioning the retiredGerman great, even though he did not play in Qatar. “I would say a name from the German national team, Toni Kroos.”
The Real Madrid midfielder was quick to reply on social media, despite the fact that it’s probable her words were a result of a momentary break in attention and that she is, in fact, aware of Kroos’ extended absence from the national team. He took to Twitter to reply facetiously, “I knew someone was going to blame me,” in response to a slew of answers that made fun of the reporter.
After the video went viral online, Cubero said that she instead intended to nameThomas Muller, a former teammate of Toni Kroos’on the German national team, as one of the worst players in the World Cup. She also responded to the 32-year-old after the latter made light of the blunder by saying, “Hahahahahaha sorry Toni. Deep admiration for you. I think your national team was a disappointment. But honors to you as a person.”