Gary Lineker did not hold back in bashing the 2026 version of the German national team, but that did not faze Arsenal star and Germany attacker Kai Havertz.
“Everyone can have their own opinion. I have no problem with that. I didn’t even read what he said. At a tournament like this, a lot of people start talking about you. I don’t think anyone is really listening to that. We already have many pundits in our country. And if people from other countries start talking as well, then that’s enough at some
point. It’s easy for people to criticize from outside. I’m not interested in that at all,” said Havertz (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
There have been no shortage of critics of this squad, but it does seems as if head coach Julian Nagelsmann does have his team focused only “controlling what it can control” and “tuning out the noise.” That is admirable and can come in handy, but at some point, maybe it would be good to see the squad draw on some of these slights as a point of motivation?
Sometimes, a team needs an enemy to help it get to its highest level of focus. Maybe now is the time for Nagelsmann and the staff to pull that card. Perhaps, that is one of the tactics that will be used to help the group take it up another level for the knockouts?
If there ever was a time to ramp up the motivational tools with a team, the knockouts are it.
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