There is an old school way of thinking about and playing the game, which pins players and teams against each other. While maybe not going as far to designate the opposition as enemies, they certainly were not friends.
That mentality is starting to slowly erode in modern sports as more players are exposed to each other at younger ages, which can create a bond or a friendship rather than a rivalry.
Is that better? Is it worse? It is hard to say, but Bastian Schweinsteiger and Oliver Kahn sound like they
would like to see a little more fire from German players moving forward — including Bayern Munich star Jamal Musiala.
BuLiNews.com captured this exchange between Schweinsteiger and Kahn during an interview with Bild:
Bastian Schweinsteiger and Oliver Kahn question the mentality of Germany’s national team in an interview with BILD. The midfielder was in particular not happy with Jamal Musiala’s lack of reaction after consistent fouls by Paraguayan players during the Round of 32 exit.
“I find it significant that Musiala’s best scene was only a scuffle against Paraguay. I missed something like that for a long time,” Schweinsteiger said about the FC Bayern star before sending a rhetorical question in Kahn’s direction.
“Olli (Kahn), let me ask you: Would you have shaken hands with your opponent after he fouled you for the fourth time?” said the 2014 World Cup winner. The legendary goalkeeper responded with a joke: “You didn’t mean the question now, did you?”
The former FC Bayern midfielder singled out Joshua Kimmich and Felix Nmecha as the only players to show leadership qualities at the tournament.
“This is already happening at the Bundesliga clubs. When I look at the German clubs, I wonder ‘Which German players actually bear permanent responsibility on the pitch there?’” said the 41-year-old as he believed it’s also a big issue in the league.
“Whether at Bayern or in the national team, I always knew the leaders on the pitch. If you have real leadership players, you won’t exit twice at a World Cup in the group stage and again in the Round of 32.”
In the end, Kahn and Schweinsteiger were not as bitter with Musiala (though they were not obviously pleased) as they are with the state of the game.
BFW Analysis
The lack of a response and maybe absence of leadership is something worth noting. At some point, unanswered aggression becomes tolerated behavior. While no one is saying Musiala should have started throwing hands, he or his teammates could have acted in a way that would have deterred further physicality (or maybe just started to signal to the referee like Lionel Messi tried with Spain’s Marc Cucurella…we kid, we kid).
Maybe in this case, the words of the old guard should be considered to help mold future reactions.
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