Mesut Ozil has finally broken his silence after Germanys embarrassing exit from the World Cup and says leaving the tournament at the group stage hurts so much.
Reigning champions Germany were one of the favourites to triumph in Russia but they finished bottom of Group F after a miserable campaign.
Joachim Lows team suffered a 1-0 defeat to Mexico in their opener, before keeping their World Cup hopes alive with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Sweden.
More: Football
Needing another win in their final game against South Korea to reach the knockout stages, Germany were beaten 2-0 after the Koreans scored two injury-time goals.
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Speaking for the first time since Germanys historic exit from the World Cup, Arsenal star Ozil said he was hurt.
Having to leave the World Cup already after the group stage hurts so much, he said.
We just werent good enough. Ill need some time to get over it.
Germany boss Low, meanwhile, admits Ozil was one of a number of his players that under-performed in Russia.
Because of a number of bans and injuries, we had to make changes, said Low. In 2014 and 2017 that was also the case, it happens.
A team only begins to gel later at the tournament, so it makes sense to bring some [players] in and let it go easy on them.
It wasnt only Ozil, a number of other players didnt perform as they normally would. I take responsibility for that and stand up for that, but I thought it was a good team.
More: Football
I didnt think Thomas Muller had been that convincing in the first two matches and I wanted to make a point there.
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Towards the finish when we realised we needed a goal we took a defender out late on and that meant we became less structured, but we couldnt wait, we had to risk.
We needed to throw things forward and it opened things up in defence.
MORE: Alexis Sanchez reveals who he wants to win the World Cup
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Mesut Ozil has finally broken his silence after Germanys embarrassing exit from the World Cup and says leaving the tournament at the group stage hurts so much.
Reigning champions Germany were one of the favourites to triumph in Russia but they finished bottom of Group F after a miserable campaign.
Joachim Lows team suffered a 1-0 defeat to Mexico in their opener, before keeping their World Cup hopes alive with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Sweden.
More: Football
Needing another win in their final game against South Korea to reach the knockout stages, Germany were beaten 2-0 after the Koreans scored two injury-time goals.
Advertisement Advertisement
Speaking for the first time since Germanys historic exit from the World Cup, Arsenal star Ozil said he was hurt.
Having to leave the World Cup already after the group stage hurts so much, he said.
We just werent good enough. Ill need some time to get over it.
Germany boss Low, meanwhile, admits Ozil was one of a number of his players that under-performed in Russia.
Because of a number of bans and injuries, we had to make changes, said Low. In 2014 and 2017 that was also the case, it happens.
A team only begins to gel later at the tournament, so it makes sense to bring some [players] in and let it go easy on them.
It wasnt only Ozil, a number of other players didnt perform as they normally would. I take responsibility for that and stand up for that, but I thought it was a good team.
More: Football
I didnt think Thomas Muller had been that convincing in the first two matches and I wanted to make a point there.
Advertisement Advertisement
Towards the finish when we realised we needed a goal we took a defender out late on and that meant we became less structured, but we couldnt wait, we had to risk.
We needed to throw things forward and it opened things up in defence.
MORE: Alexis Sanchez reveals who he wants to win the World Cup
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