Didi Hamann says the manner of Germany’s shock World Cup exit is the biggest cause of disappointment and believes the lack of leadership cost the holders dearly.
Joachim Loew's sorry German side were sent packing after a stunning 2-0 defeat by a tenacious South Korea that saw them eliminated in the first round for the first time in 80 years.
Sweden’s thrashing of Mexico saw both teams progress and the RTÉ pundit says Germany let themselves, and German football down.
"You have to criticise them for the way they represented German football," he said.
"With the Neuer incident [the German goalkeeper was dispossessed high up the field and the Koreans picked off a second goal] towards the end, it bordered on embarrassment because this is not how German football has been represented over the last four or five decades.
"They lacked leadership on the pitch, but off the pitch, how they represented Germany disappointed me"
"I got knocked out in the European Championships in the group stages, but you have to conduct yourself in a certain way, and they didn’t do that. That’s the disappointing thing."
Hamann says German team manager Olivier Bierhoff will rightly face criticism for the continued fallout from Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gundagon’s controversial photo with Turkish president Recepp Erdogan shortly before the World Cup.
Gundogan offered a public apology after the meeting, though Ozil did not, and was the only member of the 23-man squad not to appear.
The Arsenal midfielder was dropped for a game at a major tournament for the first time against Sweden and has been the focus of attention for frustrated German supporters.
"They lacked leadership on the pitch, but off the pitch, how they represented Germany disappointed me."
"Jogi Loew is going to have to face questions like whether he is the right man. Maybe that decision will be taken out of his hands
"He’s going to face questions like why the World Cup ended in such a disastrous way? He only signed a two-year extension to his contract before the tournament, so he has another four years left."
It is a big come down for one of the pre-tournament favourites who followed on from the World Cup success four years ago with more silverware in the Confederations Cup last year with an youthful and inexperienced side.
Didi Hamann believes that there will be many questions asked back home considering Germany believed that they were "unbeatable for the next decade".#RTEsoccerhttps://t.co/Kg8U2GxdoO pic.twitter.com/boyGQBAp6B
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 27, 2018
"Last year we thought we were unbeatable for the next decade after winning the Confederations Cup. In 12 months we are back down to earth.
"The manager just didn’t manage to get any cohesion into the team between the young players, who played in the Confederations Cup, and the senior players."
