Boateng Is Too Focused On Appearance, Says Matthaus
Germany great Lothar Matthaus questioned Jerome Boateng after the defending champions' exit, saying "is football the most important thing or are the sunglasses and the earrings?"
Lothar Matthaus has criticised Jerome Boateng by suggesting he cares more about his appearance than his performances for Germany.
Boateng only played in two of Germany's three games after being sent off against Sweden.
Germany great Matthaus was not impressed with Boateng's performances and thinks the Bayern Munich defender should start focusing more on his football.
Such a disaster.... World Cup 2018 was not what we expected. I'm still angry and disappointed and at the same time I feel sorry for all our fans who supported us in the stadium or at home in front of the tv or at public viewings. We didn't really get into that tournament. We had our chances and kept on playing all the time but it just didn't work. Four years ago we were on top of the world - now we're on the bottom. These are the days in the life of a football player nobody envies you for. But that's life. All I can say is thank you to our fans who always support us. We will analyze what went wrong and carry on working as we always did. I promise we‘ll be back strong! A post shared by Jerome Boateng (@jeromeboateng) on Jun 28, 2018 at 3:39am PDT
"For Boateng, I think [the question should be] is football the most important thing or are the sunglasses and the earrings?" He said.
"First, things have to be right on the pitch. These are signs of the outside, which the fans do not want to see.
"We treat every player like this, especially if the performance on the pitch isn't right. But they do not have that with Boateng.
"You have to ask yourself – was the focus on football? Personally, I would not have brought in a hairdresser. I'm going to the hairdresser, but here in Moscow."
Despite Germany's early exit, Matthaus believes that head coach Low should be given a stay of execution.
"He has not found the right mix between the world champions and the winners of the Confederations Cup," he added.
"I'm a fan of Joachim Low. He will be questioned at the DFB, but he will not be fired. He does not deserve that decision and they will leave it up to him."