by Lewis Ambrose
In an interview with German magazine kicker, Mesut Özil has spoken about the 2014/15 season, his injury, his ambition, and the German national team.
Since winning the World Cup last July, Germany have struggled.
Friendlies on home turf against Argentina and, more recently, the USA have ended in defeat. In between those two games Australia visited and left with a draw.
Competitive fixtures haven’t brought much more happiness.
Qualification
Euro 2016 qualification is well underway, but Germany haven’t got off to the start that everyone would have expected.
After five games the world champions are in a slightly precarious position.
A point behind Poland and tied with Scotland on 10 points, their place is far from secure.
That, however, does not concern Mesut Özil.
“Not at all. Many players were tired or battered after the World Cup so that explains the results against Scotland and Poland,” Özil explains.
Poland beat Germany, and Scotland came extremely close to earning a point away from home.
The Republic of Ireland went one better and a late equaliser saw them also capitalise on Germany’s sloppy start.
“In the last qualifier against Georgia in March you could see we’re in good shape again.”
The opposition on Sunday are Gibraltar – a game which Germany surely can’t mess up.
Rough
Özil himself has had a rough year or so representing his national team.
Some subpar performances saw him subbed off to jeers and whistles in 2014, and much of the media criticised him at the World Cup.
“Had I played ‘10’ in Brazil I would have brought a completely different performance. But it wasn’t to be.
“Above all I play for the team, not my ego.”
Özil is set to start on Sunday in what will be his last game of the season.
Arsenal will want him completely refreshed and raring to go, but he has to put Germany back on the right track first.
A shock defeat to USA on Wednesday cannot be followed up by anything but a convincing win against Gibraltar.
Any other result would be a huge embarrassment.
Hopefully, after that, Özil gets a nice long rest.
Arsenal need him next season, and – should they qualify – Germany will need him next summer.