National coach Hansi Flick comments on the embarrassing defeat against Japan
The German national team failed properly in the opening game against Japan. The defense in particular wobbled in the second half. In the video, coach Hansi Flick explains how that happened and how the DFB team is now preparing for the game against Spain.
Only 9.23 million TV viewers saw Germany’s embarrassment against Japan. The interest in the other games is also low. According to Fifa, this is a German phenomenon. However, the world association leaves the impression that it wants to cheat to keep up appearances.
EIt was a Wednesday, the kick-off was at 2 p.m. A time when many people have something else to do than watch a World Cup game of the German national team. Nevertheless, the ratings for Germany’s disgrace were alarmingly low. The 2-1 draw with Japan was watched by an average of just 9.23 million television viewers.
The market share was still a good 59.7 percent, but compared to the World Cup four years ago in Russia there were significant losses. At that time, 25.97 million people watched the German opening game against Mexico on ZDF (market share: 81.6 percent).
The ratings for the other games on Wednesday were also weak. Germany’s next opponent Spain watched 3.89 million people against Costa Rica, while Morocco against Croatia at 11 a.m. only saw 1.32 million viewers.
But according to Fifa, things are not like in Germany everywhere in the world. After four World Cup days, the world association published media data from various countries, which showed, for example, for Brazil, France and Great Britain, sometimes significantly higher television ratings during the opening game than at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. 5.05 million TV viewers watched the first game of this tournament on French broadcaster TF1. Four years ago it was only 3.83 million.
109 percent plus in Ecuador – the team was not there in 2018 either
However, the euphoric message from Fifa has a catch. It does not classify the numbers and omits information. The opening game of the 2018 World Cup took place on a Thursday at 5 p.m. The first game in Qatar, on the other hand, kicked off at the same time on a Sunday, when more people are watching TV anyway.
Germany’s opening debacle against Japan – the highlights in the video
The German national team made a fool of themselves at the start of the World Cup against Japan. Despite the opening goal and numerous chances, Germany gave the game completely out of hand in just eight minutes. The highlights in the video.
The world association also announced that the ratings in Ecuador for the opening game in 2022 were 109 percent higher than the best values of the two past World Cups. This could have two reasons that Fifa forgets in its report: on the one hand, Ecuador was the opening opponent of host Qatar, on the other hand, the South American country did not even qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
Incidentally, Fifa does not mention the ratings in Germany in its announcement.
