Germany made a mistake taking Mesut Ozil to the World Cup, admits team manager Oliver Bierhoff. The Arsenal star failed to sparkle as the reigning champions crashed out at the group stage after just one win from three matches. Mesut Özil is a German professional footballer who plays for English club Arsenal and the Germany national team. Özil plays mostly as an attacking midfielder, but can also be deployed as a winger.
Ozil and team-mate Ilkay Gundogan posed with Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the tournament, with their loyalty to Germany called into question. But Bierhoff told Welt: “We have never forced players of the German national squad to do something, but always tried to convince them of a cause. We did not succeed with Mesut.
“In that respect, considerations should have been made about whether to leave out Ozil from a sporting point of view. I believe the fact that Mesut and Ilkay took the pictures did not distract the squad so much. But the debate afterwards did.”