World Cup briefing: Germany urged to drop Mesut Ozil after Mexico ‘debacle’

It’s not been a great start for Germany’s World Cup defence. After opening their campaign with a defeat against Mexico in group F, the squad have held “crisis talks” to discuss the “debacle”.  

Germany’s second game is against group leaders Sweden on Saturday (7pm, live on ITV) and skipper Manuel Neuer revealed that the players did not hold back at each other when speaking about the 1-0 loss to the Mexicans.

Quoted by The Daily Telegraph the goalkeeper said: “We didn’t mince words, because we want to make things better against Sweden. We talked a lot. We’re our harshest critics. It was a wake-up call - there has never been such strong words within the team.” 

One of the players who has come under fire is playmaker Mesut Ozil. The Telegraph says there are “mounting calls” for Germany head coach Joachim Low to drop the midfielder for the Sweden clash.

Santos: Ronaldo is like a ‘Port wine’

He may be 33-years-old but Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo has set the World Cup alight with four goals in his opening two matches.

Ronaldo’s performances against Spain and Iran were so good that Portugal coach Fernando Santos has compared him to one of the country’s favourite tipples.

Santos told the BBC: “He is like a Port wine. He knows how to refine his capacity and age at his best. He is constantly evolving, contradictorily to the other players. He knows himself and he knows what he can do.

“What he does now is not what he did three or four years ago, and not what he will be doing in a few years from now.”

Speaking on ITV, Roy Keane believes his former Manchester United teammate Ronaldo has moved up a level and is now ahead of Lionel Messi as the world’s best player.

Keane said: “I think there has been a great debate about him [Cristiano Ronaldo] and [Lionel] Messi but over the last six months I think he’s on a new level – he’s out there on his own. It’s not natural ability, as brilliant as he is, it’s sheer hard work. He’s got a lot of courage, he’s brave and the guy is a genius.”

Hazard: all is fine with Lukaku

After accusing Romelu Lukaku of “hiding up front” during the first half against Panama, Belgium captain Eden Hazard has played down his comments.

Hazard spoke to the striker at half-time during Belgium’s group G opener and Lukaku went on to score twice in the 3-0 win.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Hazard said: “As the captain, even if I am not the captain I can talk, on the pitch I try to give my best, if I can help players to be better - I will. I just told Romelu if we want to win the game we need him, not just as a scorer to score goals, but we want him to be involved in the build-up. We just talked normally and we won the game in the end so it was fine.”