"Anyone who cries should go home": Matthias Sammer delivers blunt remarks about the DFB goalkeeper

Asked if he felt sorry for demoted goalkeeper Baumann, whose dream of being Germany's World Cup number one had been shattered, the 58-year-old BVB adviser was unequivocal. "Not at all," the 1996 European champion stated. "Competitive sport isn't all sunshine and roses. They don't just have to open their mouths – they're paid through the teeth for it. The best must play. There's no other premise."

For Sammer, sentiment or sympathy for individual circumstances has no place in the fight for a World Cup crown, and he dismisses outright the idea that a late change could disrupt team harmony or demotivate colleagues.

On the contrary, he demands radical consistency: "You could say again: 'Yes, the best – and that has to suit the team – and the other players might well be upset.' To which I say: 'Then leave them at home!'"

Sammer elaborated: "Sensitivity is fine, but it doesn't belong in competitive sport. Anyone who cries should just go home. That might be unfair. But who says life is always fair? First: just because it's unfair, does that mean I can't perform anymore? That's laughable."

Sammer leaves no doubt that Nagelsmann was right to take the recalled Neuer to the World Cup as first-choice goalkeeper. Despite Neuer's calf issues, the Bayern keeper remains the DFB team's sporting lifeline.

"That's the right decision," Sammer concluded. "Some might say, 'No, we don't want that.' But excuse me—are we on a coach trip or in elite sport? Our goal must be to field the best goalkeeper available right now, and Neuer is the best German shot-stopper we have."

He also insists that the entire squad accepts responsibility and shows a winning mentality, not excuses. Anyone who uses the goalkeeper situation as an excuse for a potential World Cup failure has no place in elite sport.

"If we've reached the point where a personnel decision is the reason we're failing in this tournament, then we can all pack our bags – experts included," he railed. "If I'm a professional, then I have to be prepared to go to the national coach and say: 'Coach, I can't live with this decision, I'm absolutely gutted, please let me stay at home.'"

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