National football team: Khedira on World Cup fiasco: “Receipt for the last few years”

At the “absolute top level” you need “a combination of mentality, leadership qualities and of course technique, passing and finishing skills,” explained Khedira. “I’m currently missing the leaders that we don’t have to the same extent. And that’s reflected in games like against Paraguay.”

The DFB team had already lost on penalties against Paraguay in the round of 16 at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico on Monday. In 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar she even failed in the preliminary round.

“The last two games were very frightening”

“I am very shocked about the elimination,” said Khedira. But it is “the receipt for the last few years,” said the former midfield star. “After the good start against Curaçao and the strong fighting performance against Ivory Coast, the last two games were very frightening.” At the end of the group phase, Germany lost to Ecuador.

Neither a player nor the national coach were solely responsible for the early World Cup exit in Foxborough near Boston, said Khedira. But coach Julian Nagelsmann is “partly to blame,” said the 39-year-old ex-professional, who also stated: “At the moment it’s simply not enough for world class.”

In games like the one against the strong Paraguay, you can see that not only technically perfectly trained players are needed, but also “a bit of the old virtues”. “Passion and the greed to get everything out of the last detail” are “absolute basics,” said Khedira. Sometimes you have to “suffer so much that it really hurts yourself.”