World Cup

GERMANY legend Oliver Bierhoff is the first managerial casualty of his nation’s embarrassing World Cup exit.The former striker agreed to resign as managing director of the country’s national football teams and academy.
Oliver Bierhoff has quit as Germany’s managing directorCredit: EPA
Germany have been eliminated at the group stage along with Costa RicaCredit: Getty
It comes after Germany went out at the group stage in Qatar after managing just four points from their matches against Japan, Spain and Costa Rica, crashing out on goal difference.
The German federation said Bierhoff agreed to prematurely end his contract that was due to run through the 2024 Euros.
Germany is set to host that tournament but there are concerns about the team’s direction after a second successive World Cup exit at the group stage.
The failure comes after their second-round exit at England’s hands at Euro 2020 last year.
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Bierhoff had been working for the German FA since 2004, with the nation winning the World Cup in 2014 and the Conferedations Cup in 2017, both under his watch.
They also reached the final of Euro 2008 and made it to three more semi-finals in major competitions in that time. However, after falling short in Qatar, Bierhoff decided to step aside.
In a statement, he said: “I’ve told German FA president Bernd Neuendorf of my decision today.
“I’m clearing the path for setting a new course.”
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He added: “My work was founded upon the conviction of doing my best for the German FA and the national teams.
“But that only makes the results of the men’s national team at the World Cups in Russia and Qatar more painful. That’s why I’m not leaving without the necessary self-criticism.
“We didn’t manage to repeat previous successes and to give supporters reason to cheer in the last four years.
“Some decisions we had been convinced of turned out wrong. No one regrets that more than me. I take responsibility for that.”
Germany fans struggle to take in their devasting exit in QatarCredit: AP More

THE best thing about this England team, this England manager, this FA set-up?They’re not silly any more.
Gareth Southgate has overseen three successful campaigns at major tournamentsCredit: Getty
Kevin Keegan quit as England boss amid a gambling culture in the squadCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Because it is easy to forget, after Gareth Southgate’s team coasted into a World Cup quarter-final, that before all this we endured almost two decades of farce.
Two decades of slapstick, laughing-stock, Benny Hill-theme buffoonery — and none of it possible to comprehend happening under Southgate.
England fans tend to focus on ‘oh-so-nears’, bad luck, broken metatarsals, red cards and shootout defeats.
But it wasn’t really bad luck at all. It was a complete and utter shambles.
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On the journey back from the Al Bayt Stadium, after England’s ruthless 3-0 victory over Senegal on Sunday, one largely forgotten image sprang to my mind.
It was from South Africa in 2010 — an actual World Cup campaign, throughout which David Beckham stood by the England dugout, alongside manager Fabio Capello, being handsome and famous in a three-piece suit.
Nobody even pretended that Beckham was a coach or anything. The FA admitted he didn’t have a role at all.
Beckham was just ‘there’. In the actual dugout, at an actual World Cup.
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What was that all about?
Can you imagine Southgate countenancing anything so silly?
That was a relatively trivial episode during a 20-year sewage show but, as a measure of how far removed from reality the England team were before Southgate, it takes some beating.
Before that we’d had Glenn Hoddle employing Eileen Drewery, the faith healer who laid her hands on Ray Parlour, who asked her for a short back and sides.
Then Hoddle being sacked for claiming disabled people were being punished for their sins in a former life.
Sven-Goran Eriksson failed at multiple tournaments and his reign was tarnished by off-field anticsCredit: Reuters
Steve McClaren was sacked after failing to qualify for Euro 2008Credit: AFP
Imagine that happening under Southgate.
Then Kevin Keegan quitting in the Wembley toilets after presiding over a clique-ridden squad with a toxic high-stakes gambling culture.
Imagine that happening under Southgate.
Then, a golden era of farce and scandal during the reign of Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Rio Ferdinand missing a drug test, being banned for Euro 2004 and Gary Neville threatening a players’ strike in protest.
The manager diddling Ulrika Jonsson, then diddling an FA secretary, Faria Alam, who was also diddling the FA chief executive Mark Palios, who resigned.
Eriksson’s regime was so in thrall to the cult of Beckham, that when, during the 2002 World Cup, he was asked by England’s travel agent what time he wanted the team plane to depart, he replied: “You will have to ask David.”
England’s Posh and Becks era culminated in the WAG circus in Baden-Baden in 2006, by which time Eriksson had been duped by a fake sheikh, who claimed he was going to buy Aston Villa and make the Swede his manager.
Imagine any of that happening under Southgate.
After Eriksson, the football got even worse as ‘wally with the brolly’ Steve McClaren failed to qualify for Euro 2008.
David Beckham stood alongside Fabio Capello in the dugout at the calamitous 2010 World CupCredit: AFP
Sam Allardyce resigned in disgrace after one game in charge of EnglandCredit: Getty
Roy Hodgson oversaw a World Cup group stage exit and a knock-out defeat to IcelandCredit: Getty
Having axed Beckham to prove how he wasn’t in thrall to the celebrity of his players, he brought back Beckham and seemed constantly in thrall to the celebrity of his players.
Next it was Capello, who claimed he needed to know only 100 words of English and, as well as employing Beckham as a model/mascot in 2010, signed up for something called ‘The Capello Index’.
Here, the actual England manager, at an actual World Cup, was to be paid extra dosh to publish online ratings, marking every player, including England’s, out of 100.
This after Capello had axed captain John Terry for allegedly diddling the reserve left-back’s ex-girlfriend, only for Terry to lead an insurrection at the World Cup and for Capello to later reinstate him.
But then Terry was found guilty by the FA of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, brother of Lions team-mate Rio, and Capello resigned in protest.
Imagine that happening under Southgate.
Roy Hodgson stepped in and decided to take the culprit Terry, rather than the victim’s brother Rio, to Euro 2012 because he couldn’t take both.
And then Brazil in 2014, when FA chairman Greg Dyke performed a throat-slitting gesture as England were drawn in a group with Italy and Uruguay. And was seen reading a book entitled Death in Brazil after England died on their backsides, eliminated within five days.

And at Euro 2016, with Neville raging against the press, players forbidden from even talking about an in- house darts tournament and Hodgson going on a boat trip rather than watching England’s next opponents . . . Iceland.
So low was the reputation of England footballers back then, staff at their posh hotel decided to remove the chandeliers from their team room, out of genuine fear the players would swing from them.
Imagine any of that happening under Southgate.
Then after Sam Allardyce’s one-match reign was ended by a broadsheet sting, Southgate — and common sense — arrived.
When he landed the ‘impossible job’, it was as if he said to himself, ‘What if we stopped acting like stark-raving lunatics all the time? Might we be any better at football?’.
After axing Wayne Rooney following a drunken incident at the team hotel, Southgate imposed a calm, rational style of management — and England have enjoyed three successful tournaments in a row.
Now, Southgate may be too cautious for your liking and England may be sent packing by France on Saturday.
But at least his England are professional, serious, decent and intelligent, and nobody is laughing out loud at them.
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Southgate simply doesn’t get anywhere near enough credit for his greatest achievement.
He has stopped England being silly. More

BUKAYO SAKA used to regularly score goals at the World Cup — before waking up.Now, the England winger, 21, is making his mark on the biggest stage, having already scored three times, and has his sights firmly set on France.
Bukayo Saka hopes to take England one step closer to being on top of the world with victory over France in Saturday’s quarter-finalCredit: Rex
Winger Saka has three goals in Qatar following this classy finish against Senegal and is two short of the tournament’s leading scorer, Kylian MbappeCredit: Getty
Set to earn his 24th cap in Saturday’s quarter-final against the world champions, here is a player who really is living the dream.
He said: “I always allow myself to dream. Having watched the tournament as well growing up, I have a lot of memories.
“I remember South Africa 2010, the famous song (Shakira’s Waka-Waka) — it’s an amazing song.
“Things like that stick with you forever and as a kid, I just woke up after a dream and thought ‘I want to do this for real. I want to score a goal in a World Cup’.
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“Now, of course, we have to believe we can win the World Cup. Right now, our focus is on the next game, France.
“I think it’s about finding the right balance because obviously it’s not just a normal game, it’s a World Cup quarter-final.
“At the same time, you need to prepare and do the same things the way you normally do so you don’t overthink and get too nervous.
“It has been a great experience so far, to achieve what I have and help my team with the goals I have scored is a really nice feeling.”
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Saka, who scored the third in Sunday’s 3-0 last-16 win over Senegal, stressed he would be happy to take a penalty in a shootout — despite missing the decisive kick in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.
He said: “Obviously, I have progressed and matured as a player and a person since that moment. I would not have stepped up the times I have stepped up for Arsenal with penalties if I was not confident.
“So if the moment comes and if I am set to take it, I will be more than happy to.”
Saka did not train yesterday, instead it was left to the substitutes from Sunday’s victory over Senegal to have a warm-down session.
At his press conference at the Al Wakrah Sports Club, Saka was quizzed by a French journalist whether he would be the “Kylian Mbappe of this World Cup”.
Smiling, he said: “First of all, thank you for the compliment but no, there is only one Kylian Mbappe. And at the same time, there is only one me.
“I just want to be myself and help any team in the best way I can. There are a lot of young players in this tournament — I can name so many. Even in our team, there is another young player who is doing unbelievably well in Jude Bellingham.
France’s PSG star Mbappe will again expect to be centre of attention against England but Saka singled out his own Arsenal team-mate William SalibaCredit: AFP
“I’m just happy we are all doing well. The priority is to try and win the tournament rather than be the player or the young player of it.“We know the quality France have — we also know our own qualities.
e have got to go into the game with confidence and do our best to win in the game.”
Asked to name his favourite French player, unsurprisingly, he chose an Emirates team-mate.
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Saka said: “I like William Saliba! They have so many players, I like Ousmane Dembele, I think he’s really good.
“They have so many quality players and we will have to be ready for all of them in their own way.” More

GARETH SOUTHGATE will order his England lions to go for France’s throats in the World Cup quarter-final.He believes his attacking team have the ability to finally beat a top nation in the knockout stage of a major tournament on foreign soil in Saturday’s tie.
Gareth Southgate is ready to go on the offensive against FranceCredit: Getty
Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford have been in fine goalscoring formCredit: Reuters
The Three Lions are the top scorers in Qatar with 12 and he will urge his stars to hunt for goals like did in victories over Iran, Wales and Senegal.
Boss Southgate said: “We’ve made quite a bit of history over the last four-and-a-half years. Not all of it good! But that’s the great challenge.
“What we talked about before Senegal was keeping up the relentless pressure, not sitting back if we are ahead, making sure we keep the intensity of our game.
“So we’ve got to do that now against the world champions.
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“When you look back through our previous tournaments, you see the teams that have knocked England out.
“So that’s the next test for this team.”
Yet Southgate believes England’s record in previous tournaments has prepared them for the France showdown.
The Three Lions reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, then made the final of Euro 2020, beating Germany on the way, before losing to Italy on penalties.
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Southgate, 52, added: “There is a lot of experience of these moments and the players know they’ve had to win games in different ways, they’ve had to come from behind in big matches.”
England have met France twice before at the World Cup, winning both.
In 1966, Sir Alf Ramsey’s heroes triumphed 2-0 at Wembley in the group stage, courtesy of a Roger Hunt double, on route to lifting the Jules Rimet trophy.
But it is the 3-1 victory in Bilbao in 1982 which is Southgate’s most vivid childhood World Cup memory.
Southgate said: “1982 was the first World Cup I can remember watching England.
“That tournament also had the Brazilian team of Zico, Eder, Falcao and Socrates, so that was part of falling in love with the game.
“I also remember the sticker albums and the songs are in my head.”Bryan Robson scored twice in that famous 3-1 opening game win — the first after 27 SECONDS.
Southgate said: “Bryan was my hero and I remember both his goals in ’82.
“I don’t know how manager Ron Greenwood was perceived at the time but England went out of that tournament without losing a game.”
England’s top scorer is Bukayo Saka More

JAPAN stars left a wholesome note in their dressing room after being knocked out of the World Cup.The Samurai Blue lost to Croatia on penalties in the last-16.
Japan left behind a thank you message and origami cranesCredit: Getty
Japan suffered a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out defeat to CroatiaCredit: Getty
Japan took the lead as the game ended 1-1 after extra time, though scored just one penalty from four attempts.
Despite their heartbreak and tears at the final whistle the squad still took time to clean their dressing room and left it in immaculate condition.
The team also made origami cranes which they left behind as a gift to their hosts.
And once again a message of gratitude was left, just as Japan did following their historic win over Germany.
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The words ‘thank you’ were written in Arabic and Japanese as the team played their final match in Qatar.
The team did likewise after losing to Belgium in similarly heartbreaking circumstances at the 2018 World Cup.
Japan repeated the act following their Asian Cup defeat to Qatar in 2019, while their fans do likewise.
At the end of the World Cup’s opening game between Qatar and Ecuador Japanese fans decided to clear the stands of rubbish.
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Japan provided excellent entertainment throughout and produced memorable victories against Germany and Spain, beating the 2014 champions to qualification to the knock-out stage.
Japan were also a penalty shoot-out away from reaching the quarter-finals for the first time ever. More