Hansi Flick recognizes that Germany is now “under pressure,” but she will not accept their focus on the OneLove campaign as an explanation for loss to Japan.
Germany was defeated 2-1 at Khalifa International Stadium on Wednesday, in a match that appeared to receive second billing due to a demonstration previous to kick-off.
Die Mannschaft captain Manuel Neuer did not wear the OneLove armband, which supports “inclusion and sends a message against discrimination of any kind”, after FIFA threatened anyone who planned to wear the armband with sanctions.
Instead, Germany’s players stood in line for their pre-match team photo with their hands over their mouths, protesting that FIFA was “denying us a voice.”
Even after Ilkay Gundogan started the scoring from the penalty spot, goals from Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano delivered Germany a surprise setback.
Hansi Flick’s comment
When asked if their protest had contributed to a poor performance, Flick replied: “I said it ahead of the game, Japan have a strong team, great players with good technique, good tactics. They are well trained and they showed their strengths today. They played very efficiently.
“I would have liked to see that from my team, but we can’t make excuses. We made too many mistakes.”
These errors were “mistakes we should never make in a World Cup”, Flick said, with the second goal that condemned them to “a great disappointment” particularly sloppy.
Germany cannot afford to be distracted as they prepare for their second match against Spain, according to Flick, who added, “We’ll analyse this game as we always do.”
“Spain is a different team, it is not Japan, and we’ll have a different game plan.
“Of course, now with this defeat, we are under pressure, no question, and we’re to blame. We can only blame ourselves.
“We have to make sure we can come out of this. We need to be courageous and decisive; we need the aggression in the game that’s necessary at the World Cup.”
Japan is currently in a better position, but they are also focusing on their second group game against Costa Rica.
“This is a big win, but it is not the end, obviously, so we were not going to get too happy or too sad,” said coach Hajime Moriyasu.
“We’re going to prepare for the next game.”
Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda added: “We would like to go to the quarter-final. That is our goal.
“This is our first step, and we are very pleased to have won. But our next game is against Costa Rica and we have to do our best again.”
