Kroos ready to prove Germany’s doubters wrong against France

Toni Kroos aims to prove Germany’s doubters wrong in their Euro 2020 opener against world champions France on Tuesday.

Germany have their work cut out in Group F at the European Championship with holders Portugal and Hungary to come after the mouth-watering tie against the French in Munich.

Kroos has bounced back after testing positive for Covid-19 last month and played in Germany’s 7-1 thrashing of minnows Latvia on Monday in their final friendly warm-up.

Yet the Germans have struggled to recover from the humiliation of crashing out of the group stages at the 2018 World Cup and Kroos knows they have a point to prove.

“We don’t have to hide against France. Both squads are strong,” Kroos said Friday at the German’s base in Bavaria.

“Before the 2018 (World Cup) tournament, we were made out to be stronger than we were, now it’s different.”

The Germans are bidding to win a record fourth European Championship title on Joachim Loew’s swansong after 15 years as head coach, yet confidence in the ‘Mannschaft’ remains low.

Morale among German fans was further dented this season by humbling defeats to Spain and minnows North Macedonia.

Uncharacteristically, the German defence, normally their main strength, is shaky having leaked 20 goals in their last 13 internationals.

While France have climbed to second in the world rankings, just behind Belgium, Germany have dropped to 12th position.

As a result, Real Madrid veteran Kroos says the Mannschaft wants to throw down a marker and are “looking forward” to facing the French.

The 31-year-old expects Germany to win “every single game” of the European Championship.

“I’ll never start a tournament with the expectation ‘let’s just win a few points’. If that was case, I wouldn’t be back,” Kroos insisted.

German reporter barred: Germany’s journalists union and broadcaster WDR have condemned the barring of a German journalist from reporting on matches in Russia at the Euro 2020 finals.

Robert Kempe, who works for state broadcasters WDR and ARD, has been refused accreditation for Saint Petersburg’s Krestovsky Stadium, the venue for Euro matches in Russia.

A UEFA spokesman told AFP subsidiary SID that Kempe’s accreditation was blockked by Russian authorities, but is still valid for the other 10 venues.

“This is an unacceptable encroachment on the freedom of the press,” said journalists’ union president Frank Ueberall, who called on UEFA to convince the Russians to allow Kempe into games in Saint Petersburg.

“It shows once again that critical reporting in Russia is not only undesirable, but also has consequences for journalists.”

Kempe, who is WDR’s expert on UEFA, was informed at the end of May that his application for accreditation, which would allow him to enter the country, was rejected after a “background screening”.

The German sports journalist had recently highlighted links between Russia’s state-owned company Gazprom and top Russian UEFA football officials.

Agence France-Presse