Germany protested during the team photo prior to their 2-1 loss to Japan but the protest caused a stir within the camp, according to Sport1.
Before the game, several players held a meeting where they spoke about many different gestures that they could do after FIFA stopped them from wearing the ‘One Love’ armband. Present in those meetings were the likes of Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller, İlkay Gündogan, Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, who are all part of the leadership of the team. In the end they all decided on the “shut up” action.
Prior to the Japan game, Kimmich said that they must “focus on football” too. Some of the younger players were left annoyed by the debate and preferred to isolate themselves completely, some partially muted their social media accounts. Due to the loss the protest was quickly pushed to the background.
Germany initially took the lead through an Ilkay Gündogan penalty but in the second-half they could not score past Japan’s Shūichi Gonda. Goals from Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano, both Bundesliga players (Freiburg and Bochum), resulted in Germany losing their opening World Cup game for the second tournament in a row.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
