On social media, a video of Antonio Rudiger’s strange attempts to stop Japan from scoring their third goal against Germany went viral. On Saturday night, Real Madrid’s four-time world champions were shocked by a 4-1 loss at home. The defender for Real Madrid played the entire 90 minutes.
At the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg, Japan took a 1-0 lead in the eleventh minute thanks to a goal from Junya Ito, but Leroy Sane quickly tied the game. Ayase Ueda, though, turned the ball past Germany’s goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen from close range moments later to give Japan their one-goal advantage back.
Germany was unable to get an equalizer and instead gave up two more goals just before the end of the game. Takefusa Kubo, a winger who used to be signed by Real Madrid but is now with Real Sociedad, took advantage of some terrible defending by running out of his own half and setting up Takuma Asano for an easy tap-in.
A few moments later, Kubo recorded his second assist of the game by crossing for Ao Tanaka to head past a helpless Ter Stegen. Without a doubt, this was a humiliating loss for Germany, whose head coach Hansi Flick is now under intense pressure.
According to BBC Sport, the 58-year-old, who oversaw Bayern Munich before being chosen manager of Germany in 2021, confessed he was “brutally disappointed” following the humiliating friendly defeat but insisted he is still the “right manager” for Die Mannschaft.
After the game, Ilkay Gundogan, the captain of Germany, told reporters: “We are not good enough right now, it’s a completely bitter day – we all need to ask questions of ourselves.” Joshua Kimmich, a midfielder, said: “The basic line is that it was a well-deserved loss. The second half lacked anything offensive for us. Actually, we haven’t performed well in a game since the World Cup. We have to pause and consider our character in light of this.
While it’s possible that Flick may still serve as manager for Tuesday night’s friendly match against World Cup champions France, there is widespread speculation that Germany will replace him in the coming days. The 4-1 loss to Japan was described as “a disgrace” by Germany’s director of football, Rudi Voller. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if a new manager were to be named soon in an effort to turn the team around in time for the European Championships next summer.
A bizarre defense by Rudiger against Japan goes viral
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Now let’s return to Rudiger’s questionable ‘defending,’ if you can call it that, for Japan’s opening goal. After colleague Robin Gosens was intercepted, the 30-year-old experienced center-back strangely postponed his race back. Rudiger kept stationary and observed for a short while as Kubo quickly broke away.
The former Chelsea defender eventually ran back, although halfheartedly, but it was already too late. The energetic Kubo squared the ball to Asano, who put it into an open net. After the video went viral on social media, many football fans were confused as to what Rudiger was doing.
