Germany’s exit from the FIFA World Cup has football fans once again linking the team’s struggles in a third consecutive edition of the cup to how Mesut Özil was treated.
Germany was eliminated from the ongoing World Cup after losing to Paraguay in a penalty shootout at Boston Stadium on Monday. Paraguay opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, Germany equalised through Kai Havertz in the 54th minute, and the score stayed level through extra time after a Jonathan Tah goal was disallowed following a VAR check.
Germany lost the penalty shootout after misses from Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Tah, with José Canale scoring the winning penalty for Paraguay. It marked Germany’s first-ever loss in a penalty shootout at a World Cup.
With Germany failing to advance to the round of 16, having last made it in 2014 when it won the tournament, a wave of reactions online pointed to Germany’s treatment of Özil as the root of the team’s decline.
“Germany has lost all its luck ever since they disrespected Mesut Özil,” one user wrote. “Özil was the mastermind behind Germany’s victory,” another commented.
“Germany, that’s what you get for treating Özil like that,” a fan wrote. “Loving this cooking session of the German team. They were never the same after that 2014 win and the treatment they gave Özil,” said another.
“Germany may have been punished for the injustice done to Mesut Özil,” one user added.
Özil retired from international football in 2018 at the age of 29, citing “racism and disrespect” he faced over his Turkish roots. He had been criticised after being photographed with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London in May that year, with German politicians questioning his loyalty to German democratic values.
He said that he received hate mail and threats and was blamed for Germany’s disappointing performance at that year’s World Cup, where the defending champions were knocked out in the group stage.
“I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose,” Özil had said at the time.
In his statement, Özil had also raised the issue of Islamophobia directly, questioning why his Turkish heritage was treated differently from that of other dual-heritage teammates. “Is it because it is Turkey? Is it because I’m a Muslim? I think here lays an important issue,” he said.
He had added that he no longer felt accepted in German society despite paying taxes, donating to causes there and being part of the World Cup-winning squad.
Born in Gelsenkirchen to Turkish parents, Özil was a key member of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning side, earning 92 caps and being voted the national team’s player of the year five times since 2011.
