PETALING JAYA: Former Australian goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer believed that four-time champions, Germany, will clinch their fifth World Cup title in Qatar, later this year.
Schwarzer said the ‘Die Mannschaft’ team had transformed remarkably well ever since former Bayern Munich manager, Hansi Flick, who guided the team to clinch the UEFA Champions League title in 2019/2020 season, took over Germany from Joachim Low after the Euro 2020 championship, last year.
“I think Germany under Flick looked a totally different side, from the togetherness of the team to tactical awareness of the manager, it was simply amazing.
“Flick had proven with Bayern Munich before and now he is doing that in Germany, you can see that the players genuinely love him and buy into his ideas,” he told a press conference after the launching of the Quest for the World Cup’ campaign hosted by Astro, here today.
Not only that, the former Middlesbrough and Chelsea goalie, pointed out that Germany’s 19-year-old attacking midfielder, Jamal Musiala, who currently plays for Bayern Munich, could be the one to watch out for in Qatar.
“Even though Musiala is still young but I think he had grown and become a very good player over the last two years,” he added.
Asked on his country’s chance in the World Cup, the 49-year-old Schwarzer admitted that Australia do not have the quality needed to compete especially when they were drawn together with defending champions, France followed by Denmark and Tunisia in Group D.
In the meantime, former Dutch midfielder, Phillip Cocu, acknowledged that five-time winners, Brazil, will be under huge pressure to perform well and will thus deliver their sixth title in the Middle East after the ‘Samba’ boys last won it two decades ago in South Korea and Japan.
“The pressure will absolutely be on Brazil as the whole country expects them to win the World Cup again,” he said.
Astro, which is the official broadcaster for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, will be showing all 64 matches live throughout the tournament, which kicks off from Nov 21 until Dec 18. - Bernama
