German captain Manuel Neuer on Tuesday said that his team’s remaining two FIFA World Cup games against Sweden and Korea Republic are now effectively finals as the holders fight to stay in the tournament following an opening game defeat against Mexico. “From now on, we only have finals. The players have to show what they can do, but I am convinced that we can do it,” Neuer said. “Complaining about what happened doesn’t change anything, we all know that,” he further added. Joachin Loew’s team will have to put their loss behind if they want to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to successfully defend the title.
Neuer revealed that head coach Loew spoke at length during an emergency team meeting after the poor display in Moscow and that the players did not hold back in giving their opinion. “There was a length team meeting,” said Neuer.
“We didn’t mince words, because we want to make things better against Sweden. We talked a lot, such meetings are good, it’s a liberating feeling and the outlines came from the coach,” Neuer explained. “We are our harshest critics. It was a wake-up call and there has never been such strong communication within the team as after the game against Mexico. We won’t need a second wake-up call. We want to reach the knock-out stages and the team believes that we can do it,” the German captain remarked. Neuer says all the stops will be pulled out against Sweden. “Every player must ask himself, ‘am I ready to give everything?”, said Germany’s keeper.