BERLIN: Mesut Ozil’s decision to quit playing for Germany unleashed a racism storm in Berlin on Monday, but earned the applause of Ankara with a Turkish minister hailing “a goal against the virus of fascism.”
After months of silence over a controversial photograph with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in May, which sparked questions about his loyalty to Germany, Ozil erupted on Sunday.
The Arsenal midfielder posted a stinging four-page statement taking aim at German Football Association (DFB) bosses, sponsors and the media.
Ozil, a key member of the squad which won the 2014 World Cup, blamed the DFB management, in particular its president Reinhard Grindel, for failing to side with him against his critics.
“In the eyes of Grindel and his supporters, I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose,” Ozil wrote.
The 29-year-old said he was true to both his Turkish and German origins and insisted he did not intend to make a political statement by appearing with Erdogan just before the World Cup finals.
“I have two hearts, one German and one Turkish,” said Ozil, who was repeatedly singled out for criticism after Germany’s woeful performance at the World Cup saw them crash out after the group stages.
Ozil’s explosive statement, in three separate postings on Twitter and Instagram, was hailed by Erdogan’s government, which has championed a campaign against what Ankara sees as growing Islamophobia in Europe.
“I congratulate Mesut Ozil who by leaving the national team has scored the most beautiful goal against the virus of fascism,” Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul wrote on Twitter.
But it was met with a mix of dismay and outrage in Germany. The German Football Association (DFB) rejected claims of racism made by Mesut Ozil against their president Reinhard Grindel in an angry resignation letter.
“We reject the notion that the DFB is associated with racism,” read a statement.
“The DFB stands for diversity, from the representatives at the top to the boundless, day-to-day dedication of people at the base.”
Underlining that sports brings a lot to integration in a country, Chancellor Angela Merkel said she respects Ozil’s decision.
“The chancellor values Mesut Ozil highly. He is a great footballer who has contributed a great deal to the national team,” said Merkel’s spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer, adding that he has “now made a decision that must be respected.”
Justice Minister Katarina Barley wrote on Twitter that it was an “alarm bell if a great German footballer like Mesut Ozil no longer feels wanted in his country or represented by the DFB.”
Cem Ozdemir of the Greens party also voiced dismay that “young German-Turks now get the impression that they have no place in the German national team.”
At the same time, Ozdemir, who himself has Turkish roots, said Ozil “did not live up to his function of setting examples” by failing to distance himself from the hard-line Turkish leader.
Germany’s best-selling newspaper Bild led the charge of criticism against Ozil, calling his statement a “whiny resignation” and said he heaped “criticism on everyone but himself.”
Bild, which has for weeks called for Ozil to be dropped from the starting team, also rejected his claims that his Turkish origin and Erdogan photo have been used by some media to pander to the far-right.
“Ozil’s world view here is dangerously close to Erdogan and his despots,” charged the tabloid-style daily.
The photo, which was published on Turkey’s presidential website and the Twitter feed of the ruling party, came just before the June 24 polls Erdogan won to claim sweeping new powers.
Ozil has insisted that “it wasn’t about politics or elections, it was about me respecting the highest office of my family’s country.”
For Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, “all parties in the affair should engage in some soul-searching. I see few here who have really behaved correctly.”
Born and raised in Gelsenkirchen, Ozil has scored 23 goals and made 40 assists in 92 appearances with Die Mannschaft. He is third-generation German-Turk and counts among more than three million people of Turkish origin in Germany.
The DFB has so far stayed mum. In a first reaction from his former teammates, defender Jerome Boateng wrote on Twitter using the Turkish word for “brother“: “It was a pleasure, Abi.”
Former DFB chief Theo Zwanziger warned that the debacle was a “serious blow to the integration efforts in our country that goes beyond football.”
For Tagesspiegel daily, the entire affair was a “watershed for sports, politics and society.”
While noting that Ozil’s thinking that the Erdogan photograph could be non-political was “naive,” it said the fiasco had far reaching consequences.
“Ultimately, Ozil did not fall because of Grindel but because of a heated, populist mood in Germany,” it said.
“The danger exists because many who also have family roots in other countries or culture, can understand Ozil’s mood. And this needs to be countered quickly and decisively.
“Because more is at stake than just the future of the German national football team.”
Ozil’s resignation sparks Germany racism storm as Ankara cheers
Ozil’s resignation sparks Germany racism storm as Ankara cheers
- After months of silence over a controversial photograph with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in May Ozil erupted on Sunday
- The Arsenal midfielder posted a stinging four-page statement taking aim at German Football Association (DFB) bosses sponsors and the media
Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par
ABU DHABI: Paul Waring hit the shot of his life to complete a career-low 11-under 61 in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday and establish a five-stroke lead heading into the weekend of the European tour’s first playoff event.
The No. 229-ranked Englishman hit a draw with a 3-wood from about 260 yards to inside 4 feet at No. 18 and tapped in the birdie putt to move to 19-under par for the tournament.
The European tour confirmed to The Associated Press that it is the lowest 36-hole score to par in the tour’s history.
Waring, who opened with a 64 on Thursday, made nine birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round at Yas Links and set a course record.
“I’ve got a nice lead at the moment but even before I tee off tomorrow, someone might have caught me,” said the 39-year-old Waring, whose sole win came at the Nordea Masters in 2018. “While I’m in the lead at the moment, and if we are rational about this, everyone is still going to fire a lot of
birdies in there.
“So if I’m going to be involved on Sunday afternoon, I’ve still got to keep going the way I am and I know that.”
First-round leader Tommy Fleetwood of England (68), Johannes Veerman of the United States (67) and Danish players Niklas Norgaard (65) and Thorbjorn Olesen (67) were tied for second place on 14 under.
Rory McIlroy hit his tee shot into a greenside bunker at the par-3 17th and made a triple bogey on the way to a second successive 67, leaving him nine strokes off the lead.
McIlroy, who can clinch a sixth Race to Dubai title with a win this week, was 7 under after 13 holes of his second round and feels he’ll need to produce something similar to reel in Waring and his closest chasers.
“I need the golf course to firm up a little bit and toughen up a little bit to have a chance,” McIlroy said. “There’s so many gettable holes out there.”
Zheng advances to WTA Finals championship match with semifinal win over Krejcikova
- Zheng, 22, awaits top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka or third-seeded Coco Gauff in the final on Saturday
RIYADH: Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen became the first tournament debutante to reach the championship match at the WTA Finals since 2021 with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Barbora Krejcikova in Riyadh on Friday.
The seventh-seeded Zheng needed one hour and 40 minutes to overcome the Wimbledon champion in their semifinal encounter, firing nine aces along the way.
Zheng led 6-3, 3-0 before the eighth-seeded Krejcikova launched a comeback attempt but the Chinese star regained control of the match to make it two wins from two clashes with the Czech.
Zheng, 22, awaits top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka or third-seeded Coco Gauff in the final on Saturday, as she bids to become the first player to win the WTA Finals on her maiden appearance since Ashleigh Barty in 2019.
“It feels so special because this is my first WTA Finals and right now I’m in the final, which is unbelievable. She’s a really good player, today we gave a good match,” said Zheng.
“It was tricky because at 3-0 I think I dropped my performance; suddenly my performance went down, and she played more free and I was suddenly 3-4 down. I gave so much control to myself to not panic too much. It shows I was mentally strong in that moment.”
Zheng was near untouchable on serve in the 40-minute opening set, dropping just one point behind her first delivery en route to a 6-3 lead.
The Olympic champion broke twice for a 3-0 advantage in the second set and looked on her way to a comfortable victory.
But Krejcikova had other ideas and she halted Zheng’s momentum by attacking her second serve to grab the next four games and inch ahead for the first time in the contest.
It became a tug of war but it was Zheng who found an opening, breaking in game 12 to put herself in the position to serve for the match.
The fight wasn’t over yet as Zheng had to save a break point and saw a first match point slip away before she wrapped up the win on her second chance when a Krejcikova forehand sailed wide.
Since the event’s inauguration in 1972, Zheng is only the second Asian player to reach the decider at the WTA Finals after Li Na pulled off that feat in 2013.
PSG to curb political slogans in wake of ‘Free Palestine’ banner
- PSG promised to “guarantee the absence of political messages” in the stands
- “The club was not aware of the plan to display such a message“
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain say they will make sure there is no repeat of a midweek unfurling by fans of a banner proclaiming “Free Palestine.”
The huge banner covered an entire section of the stadium at the Parc des Princes Wednesday night ahead of PSG’s defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid.
As well as the slogan “Free Palestine,” the banner showed a bloodstained Palestinian flag, a gesticulating man with a keffiyeh scarf covering all his face except his eyes, the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and a young boy wrapped in the Lebanese flag.
On Friday, after a meeting with the French football federation and government officials, PSG promised to “guarantee the absence of political messages” in the stands.
“A frank and constructive dialogue made it possible to identify solutions that PSG is committed to putting in place from the next match at the Parc des Princes,” a government spokesperson told AFP.
The banner, which was unfurled by the Paris Ultras Collective (CUP) hard-core fan group, was shown above another slogan which read: “War on the pitch but peace in the world.”
“The club was not aware of the plan to display such a message,” PSG said in a statement Wednesday evening.
Al-Hilal win again to pile pressure on Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq
- Three fine goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic, Malcom and Mohammed Al-Qahtani did the damage
RIYADH: Al-Hilal returned to the top of the Saudi Pro League on Friday, defeating Ettifaq 3-1 to rack up the pressure on under-fire coach Steven Gerrard.
Three fine goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic, Malcom and Mohammed Al-Qahtani did the damage as the champions moved a point clear of Al-Ittihad, who won 2–0 at Al-Orubah on Thursday.
The loss means that Ettifaq, who started the season with three straight wins, have taken just one point from the last six games in the league. It may mean a nervous international break for Gerrard, though the Liverpool legend will know that this was a battling performance from his players, who just did not quite have the quality when needed.
While Ettifaq tried to keep it tight at the back, it was not all one-way traffic. Moussa Dembele had a couple of opportunities when the ball simply wouldn’t fall for him and Karl Toko-Ekambi shot just over from the left side, though it could have been a mishit cross.
All know, however, that you have to be ruthless and clinical when playing the 19-time Saudi champions as wastefulness is almost always punished. It took the Blues some time to get going but they started to look ominous as half-time approached.
Just before the break, Al-Hilal should have taken the lead. This season Mitrovic has been lethal inside the area and the league’s leading scorer was picked out in space near the penalty spot; the stadium held its breath but former Fulham teammate Marek Rodak got his foot to the low shot and Malcom fired the rebound wide.
Mitrovic didn’t miss in added time. Renan Lodi picked up possession on the left and the Brazilian then bent a beautiful low cross behind the Ettifaq defense and Mitrovic could not miss from inside the six-yard box for his 11th of the season.
Ettifaq were still very much in the game and ten minutes after the restart, Toko-Ekambi stretched for a low cross, and while the Cameroonian did make contact and forced a good save from Yassine Bounou, it was a great chance.
The easterners thought they were going to regret that as Mitrovic had the ball in the net once more but his close-range header was ruled out for offside. There was a lengthy VAR review but it only confirmed the referee’s original decision.
The second goal did come eventually, and when it did — in the 81st minute — it was one to remember, for the home fans at least. Malcolm was running in from the left side of the area when he was found by a smart backheel from Abdullah Al-Hamdan. The Brazilian then took the ball past the goalkeeper with his first touch and then rolled the ball home.
It seemed that there was no coming back from that — Hilal are not a team that gives up two-goal leads — but as injury time started, Ettifaq were handed a lifeline in the shape of a penalty, and up stepped Vitinho to place the ball into the bottom corner.
Unfortunately for the visitors, it served just to wake up the hosts, who quickly restored their two-goal lead, though Gerrard angrily told officials that Mitrovic had committed a foul in the build-up. The home fans enjoyed the goal, however, as Malcom fed Mohammed Al-Qahtani who turned 360 degrees to make a little space in the area and then fired a low shot home.
It got even worse for Ettifaq as Abdullah Radif was sent off for shoving Ali Al-Bulaihi in the neck. There really was no coming back from that.
All in all, it was a perfect evening’s work for Al-Hilal, even if Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard will be a little concerned that star man Salem Al-Dawsari seemed to pick up an injury — with the trip to Australia for a vital World Cup qualifier next Thursday.
Elsewhere, Al-Ahli bounced back from their defeat in the Jeddah Derby to defeat Al-Raed 2-0.
Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par
- Waring, who opened with a 64 on Thursday, made nine birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round at Yas Links
- Rory McIlroy made a triple bogey on No. 17 in his second successive 67
ABU DHABI: Paul Waring hit the shot of his life to complete a career-low 11-under 61 in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday and establish a five-stroke lead heading into the weekend of the European tour’s first playoff event.
The No. 229-ranked Englishman hit a draw with a 3-wood from about 260 yards to inside 4 feet at No. 18 and tapped in the birdie putt to move to 19-under par for the tournament.
The European tour confirmed to The Associated Press that it is the lowest 36-hole score to par in the tour’s history.
Waring, who opened with a 64 on Thursday, made nine birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round at Yas Links and set a course record.
First-round leader Tommy Fleetwood of England (68), Johannes Veerman of the United States (67) and Danish players Niklas Norgaard (65) and Thorbjorn Olesen (67) were tied for second place on 14 under.
Rory McIlroy made a triple bogey on No. 17 in his second successive 67 and was nine strokes off the lead.
McIlroy can clinch a sixth Race to Dubai title with a win this week.
