German top official 'not over the moon' in World Cup anticipation
Hans-Joachim Watzke, President of the German Football League (DFL), speaks at the DFL's New Year's reception at the Palmengarten clubhouse. Florian Wiegand/dpa German Football Federation vice-president Hans-Joachim Watzke is finding it difficult to get in a good World Cup spirit given the current social and political climate. Watzke told Wednesday's Ruhr-Nachrichten paper that “I was really looking forward to it,” but that "given the circumstances, I’m not exactly over the moon about it.
” The head of the German Football League and former Borussia Dortmund CEO did not elaborate but there has been criticism on the administration of United States president Donald Trump, ranging from their crackdown on illegal immigrants to the Iran war. There have been calls to boycott the June 11-July 19 tournament the US co-hosts with Mexico and Canada but Watzke dismissed this. “If we’re wise, we’ll leave the political assessments to the politicians and focus on sport.
Because sport also has a role to play: bringing people together – even across national borders,” Watzke said. He said he hopes that fans travelling to the US will engage in an “exchange” with US citizens and "perhaps people there will also realise that there are people here who are concerned about the US. ” Looking at the German team, Watzke said it is "certainly not among the two or three top favourites" but "among a group of teams that can get into a flow during a tournament and then achieve a lot.
"We have a very decent team," Watzke said.