Albert Riera [Former Eintracht Frankfurt coach]: "To be honest, the level of the Bundesliga was somewhat disappointing. Bayern Munich are of course in a league of their own and cannot be reached. Borussia Dortmund can keep up reasonably well with their budget. Then there are surprises like Stuttgart, but the rest was disappointing for me. The teams in the bottom third of the table all play exactly the same way. When you analyze them, you get the feeling you're playing against the same opponent every week. If you look at the sums of money spent in Germany – 20, 30, even 40 million euros – compared to the amounts in the Slovenian league, it's not a different world at all. That's reality. If Celje were to play against Frankfurt, they could hold their own. I'm not saying they're better, but they can compete. The difference is smaller than it appears from the outside" [@Sport_Klub_Slo via @BILD]
Côte d'Ivoire coach Emerse Faé complained after yesterday's game of a 'lack of fair play' by the German team. The incident was triggered by a challenge on the sideline in the 80th minute between Kai Havertz and Wilfried Singo. Singo suddenly grabbed his hamstring, raised his right arm, and deliberately played the ball out of bounds. Julian Nagelsmann was furious that there had been a brief interruption because of that incident. Meanwhile, Nathaniel Brown had verbal altercation with Faé
Faé: "We take such nations as an example to further develop ourselves, and yet I was a bit disappointed by the lack of fair play shown by this German team. As for the young German defender [Brown], I simply told him to stay humble. It’s true, he played a great game, he’s in a very, very strong national team. But I don’t think he needs to speak badly about us just because he’s chasing the game, or because it’s 1-1 and he’d like to win. From a great nation like Germany, you would have expected a bit more fair play when Singo took the ball out of play because he was injured. We would have liked him to give it back to us"
After initial examination in the stadium yesterday, the national team doctors strongly suspect that Nico Schlotterbeck has torn a ligament in his ankle. An MRI scan at the team's base in Winston-Salem today will provide a definitive diagnosis. If the suspicion is confirmed, the World Cup could be over for the defender [@BILD]