Expectations were sky-high for Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz heading into the tournament, but both playmakers struggled as their dribbling threat was neutralised by Ecuador’s physical approach. Speaking on his TikTok live show alongside Lukas Podolski, Kroos openly disagreed with Nagelsmann, who had refused to question his players’ absolute desire to win.
Kroos stated: “It has to be nasty to play against us, meaning we need to be capable of defending well and being gritty. We aren’t doing that yet. And we need (Jamal) Musiala and (Florian) Wirtz in top form – which we don’t have right now.
“If both of these things don’t change, we won’t last much longer. We used to have matches where we played poorly too – like against Algeria. But we were still able to win those bad games. I don’t think this current team has that in them.
“This is a group that gives everything. However, I don’t agree with the coach saying that (complacency) had absolutely nothing to do with it. You always have that in the back of your mind when you’ve already qualified. You can’t just block it out; it’s completely human. We are simply not a physical team.”
