Quote:
Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates
100% correct.
I'm completely on Ozil's side here
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I'm not. You're 100 percent correct that he's been treated unfairly and sadly he's been the subject of despicable racism. But in all honesty, Özil and his camp have made a number of mistakes as well and there's certainly blame on both sides.
First of all, Beninho is 100 percent correct when it comes to racism in Germany. The thing there (and generally in Europe right now) is that the past few years have sadly seen a clear rise in right-wing politics and racism. Mass immigration has given far-right politicians a spark and through social media etc. they've sadly gained a lot of steam. I think all of that is relevant when it comes to Özil too, because those players with foreign roots have always been, to a degree, a subject of racist tendencies. I feel that has gotten a lot worse over the past few years, although in the eyes of the racists it does seem very important where the roots are. Özil is right when he says that guys like Gomez, Podolski and Klose were treated differently. Those come from Christian European countries though, while Özil is a Muslim with Turkish roots.
Guys like Özil and Gündogan have gotten a lot of flack over the past few years, and there's been a lot of stupid discussions whether they are "real" Germans. Completely irrelevant stuff gets blown out of proportion here - a famous example would be whether and how they sing the national anthem before the game. It's completely ridiculous, petty and racist, but sadly that's how it's been for a while. And of course, those things are exacerbated when the team loses. Özil has probably faced the most criticism in that regard because he simply looks lethargic and uninterested on the field all the time. Again, very unfair criticism.
All of that stuff has to be under consideration when it comes to the photographs with Erdogan, who is pretty much seen as the devil in central Europe. Özil and Gündogan meeting him, taking photos with him and posting stuff like "my president!" has obviously caused a ####storm. The racists saw justification for their prejudices that those players aren't even Germans, but Turks at heart, and therefore shouldn't play for the national team. In a more general sense, two German footballers doing that stuff was a slap in the face of Germany. Let's not forget that Erdogan was in the middle of his election campaign and that his rallies were forbidden in Germany. It was, in all honesty, unbelievably stupid of them to do that.
Now the fallout has been terrible because the DFB simply did a horrific job ... they couldn't have messed it up worse on purpose. Löw, Bierhoff and friends simply didn't have the spine to deal with it appropriately, and Grindel is nothing but an incompetent racist #######. They neither managed to protect those two players nor the team as a whole and did absolutely nothing to defuse the situation. Instead they deflected, and now AFTER the disappointing tournament they come out and throw #### everywhere. Grindel absolutely has to be canned for all of this, and in all honesty Bierhoff should be too.
But finally, despite the DFBs incompetence and all the horrific treatment Özil has had to face, you can't clear Özil of any mistakes either. First of all, and I can't stress this enough, the whole Erdogan meeting was incredibly stupid. I don't know if they were badly advised or felt pressure from Turkey, but in any way, endorsing someone like Erdogan in the final stages of his election campaign can't be defended. Secondly, Özil did nothing to explain himself and defuse the situation. Gündogan did, saying that he had to do it because of his construction projects in Turkey. It wasn't perfect, but it helped. Özil stayed quiet all the time, and it's simply blown up in his face after his pathetic WC displays.
And while it's unfair that he's been made a scapegoat by Grindel and friends, he certainly didn't help his case either. His "explanation" for meeting Erdogan is incredibly weak, and given the timing of the meeting, his claims of it being unpolitical are simply laughable. What personally irks me is that there isn't even a hint of self-reflection there, he doesn't acknowledge any of his own mistakes but simply puts all the blame on the others. And on a much smaller scale, but still: posting all that stuff in English only didn't help him in the face of the public, and doing it all in three seperate posts throughout the day gives the impression of an attention whore. If you want to play the victim, those things don't really help.
I didn't mean to turn this into a lengthy monologue, sorry. But there's simply a lot of factors in all of this and there's blame on many sides. You can't deny that Özil has had to suffer pathetic treatment and racism, and the DFB failed miserably in every way. But Özil has made big mistakes too.