Mesut Ozil will not play for Germany at this summer’s Confederations Cup in Russia.
The reigning world champions have opted to take an experimental squad to FIFA’s friendly tournament with Joachim Loew eager that his star names get a full rest before the build-up to next season’s World Cup.
Arsenal’s Shkodran Mustafi will travel as part of the 23-man squad as Germany take on Australia, Cameroon and Alexis’ Chile in the group stage. The tournament runs from 17 June to 2 July and also features Russia, Mexico, Portugal and New Zealand.
Ozil’s absence gives Arsenal the chance to re-engage the midfielder in negotiations over a new deal at the Emirates. The 28-year-old will be out of contract in June 2018 and is understood to be demanding a significant pay rise. It also means he could be called upon for the pre-season tour of Sydney and the match with Bayern Munich in Beijing.
Whether Alexis Sanchez gets the summer off remains to be seen. The chances are the striker will feature for Chile, who qualified for the tournament by winning last summer’s Copa America.
Good he is rested, can sort his new contract out.
I know players get paid a lot, but it’s absolutely bonkers how many games top players play year in year out, not just for club but also for country. It’s no wonder some get mental and physical fatigue…AND then the fans jump on them.
I cannot for the life of me remember a summer where Alexis didn’t have to play a tournament.
Yeah, first the World Cup (obviously important), then the Copa America in Chile (absolutely crucial to the country), then the not-exactly the Copa America, “Copa America Centenario” in the U.S. (resented, perhaps by Chile, but still a big deal), and now the not-really a cup, Confederations Cup (really a way of testing the preparations for the following year’s World Cup)–which I’m sure Chile would like to win, but which really is not a big deal. Which doesn’t mean they will let Alexis rest, or that he will want to. At least it’s not a very long tournament and, hopefully, everyone… Read more »
I may be wrong but I think the Chile coach said he would rest Alexis and not take him to the Confederations cup, I hope so.
From an Australian point of view, the chance to see Ozil downunder tearing the local sides apart will be….. wait for it…..
Legendary!!
You will surely see two nice through balls over 90 minutes.
I’d be surprised if he was there, I saw Arsenal play against the MLS all stars in San Jose, CA last year, hardly any stars, got to meet the manager and jack Wilshere though 🙂
Better be coming to sydney!!
Trivia: The Confederations Cup was originally created by and held by Saudi Arabia in 1992 and involved 4 teams. It was then referred to as King Fahd Cup. Later, in 1997, FIFA took over and did their thing. Now it’s an absolutely useless tournament comprised of 8 teams and is a leading risk factor in Player Fatigue Syndrome.
FIFA basically uses it to test the host country’s preparation for the following year’s World Cup. Oh yeah, also to make money.
You can tell it’s halfway between a friendly and the real thing by the fact that the U.S. defeated Spain (with their top players selected), and almost embarrassed Brazil.
Australia made the final one year. That itself suggests it is a waste of time and not taken seriously. Got rolled 6-0 by Brazil in that game. I do remember the SF vs Uruguay though a young Harry Kewell scoring a belter.
If Ozil asks for significant pay raise, we should let him go. Sanchez is the reason we haven’t finished 12th. I can’t say Ozil made any difference compared to using Cazorla in his position or when we had Nasri or even using Ramsey or Iwobi in his position. We are finishing 5th but one big player won so many games for us and people say there is another big player, I don’t see.
Why do you care? It’s not like you are paying his wages.
A rested Ozil means a world class Ozil. The only season he had pre season with us (last season) he was on fire. I’m hoping he stays and that’s the case.
Joachim Löw is pure class. Actually cares about the players and their fitness, and keeps track of who he should or should not use at any given time.