Fae brands Schweinsteiger’s comments as 'racist'

Germany has managed to secure a place in the elimination round of the World Cup, something they failed to do in the last two competitions. Yet, their performance didn’t look good in 2-1 loss to Ecuador, and it certainly didn’t look great against Ivory Coast, where they were losing 1-0 before Undav scored a winner deep in injury time. And maybe it was the shear excitement due to the victory and the qualifications to the Round of 32 which somehow ‘hid’ the Bastian Schweinsteiger’s comments. But after the euphoria went down, somebody paid attention what the former Bayern Munich midfielder said during his commentary of the game and now the Ivory Coach had to react.

“African football … (is) a bit wild, a bit unorthodox and perhaps not so conditioned by tactics” Schweinsteiger said on ARD TV, where he did the coverage of the game. That opened the debate if his comments were racist or not, but Emerse Fae had his opinion – it was racist.

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“We could call it racist. I think it’s sad. He was a very good player, a great player. I’ve always loved him personally. As a midfielder myself, I always liked the way he played and how he understood the game. So much so, in fact, that a friend who used to train with me knew how much I liked him and would call me ‘Bastian’. So when I heard this comment, I was disappointed. Disappointed in the man. When you know football as well as he does, it’s odd that he would speak in a way that we could call racist, if we’re calling a spade a spade. Schweinsteiger must know that African football isn’t just physical. It’s very technical, very tactical. All I can hope is that these comments were clumsy and don’t reflect what is in mind. But we also know that there are lots of former players who become pundits and they’re all looking to create some controversy. He was a worldwide star and maybe he was thinking that people have forgotten him. I don’t know but we’ll move forward and try to forget what he said” said Fae.

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Journalists also took a minute to ask former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp about Schweinsteiger’s comments and he was not happy with a question.

“No, no. I have no chance; I have no chance to answer this question. Everybody likes it so you bring me into this situation, it’s not my job that everyone likes it but this is a serious subject and I don’t even know what is appropriate to say. For African people it’s one thing, for other people it’s another thing, and I’m not here. I thought, nobody asked me about that but you found a moment, and surprisingly you are German, that surprised me so much” he said, leaving the interview with a smile. Schweinsteiger is yet to be heard after that comment about Ivory Coast.

WORLD CUP - GROUP STAGE (ROUND 3)

Group I

Friday

22.00: (5.50) Norway (3.90) France (1.70)

22.00: (1.27) Senegal (6.00) Iraq (11.0)

***odds are subject to change***

Group H

Saturday

03.00: (2.50) Cape Verde (3.30) Saudi Arabia (2.85)

03.00: (7.75) Uruguay (4.30) Spain (1.50)

***odds are subject to change***