Germany legend Lothar Matthaus has lashed out at the presence of players' families at the World Cup, claiming they were a major distraction following Germany's shock exit at the hands of Paraguay. The 65-year-old, who captained Germany in five World Cups, drew parallels with the 1994 tournament when Germany were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Bulgaria as defending champions.
Germany were eliminated by Paraguay in the round of 32 after their first-ever World Cup penalty shootout defeat. Matthaus, now a pundit for German outlet Bild, insisted that off-pitch issues must be discussed alongside on-pitch performance.
Matthaus questions family presence
Matthaus stated: "While there's a lot that needs to be processed about what happened on the pitch, what happened off the pitch also needs to be a topic of discussion. There were documentaries [made] about this topic in '94 [and] I don't think it was that different this time round."
He alleged that family was "more important for many of [the players] than what took place on the football pitch." Matthaus expressed bafflement at the inclusion of families so early in the tournament: "I really don't know why they should be there. They [the players] hadn't even been in America for two weeks, and already their entire families were with them. They could have been flown in for the quarter-finals when the team had actually accomplished something."
Unrest over travel arrangements
Matthaus also claimed there was "a lot of unrest" over varying travel arrangements. He said: "I know that it was a topic of discussion and that one player was cross with another because he was allowed to bring his mum with him. Another was allowed to bring his wife, then the kids were allowed to fly too." Inconsistencies emerged with some travelling on the team plane while "others had had to take a commercial flight."
He concluded: "The focus was simply not on the World Cup but on this free day to spend with the family and that free day with the family."
