Antonio Rudiger’s ‘very strange’ defending during Germany 1-4 Japan goes viral | OneFootball

Highlights

Footage of Antonio Rudiger’s bizarre attempts to prevent Japan from scoring their third goal against Germany has gone viral on social media. The Real Madrid defender played the full 90 minutes as the four-time world champions suffered a shock 4-1 defeat on home soil on Saturday night.

Junya Ito put Japan 1-0 up in the 11th minute at the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg, only for Leroy Sane to level the scores shortly afterwards. Minutes after that, however, Japan restored their one-goal lead when Ayase Ueda turned the ball past Germany’s goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen from close range.

Germany were unable to find the equaliser and instead conceded two more goals shortly before full-time. Takefusa Kubo, the winger who was previously on Real Madrid’s books and now plays for Real Sociedad, capitalised on some awful defending, breaking away from his own half before teeing up Takuma Asano for simple tap-in.

Kubo then notched his second assist of the evening moments later, crossing for Ao Tanaka to head past the despairing Ter Stegen. This was, without question, a humiliating defeat for Germany, whose head coach Hansi Flick now finds himself under serious pressure.

The 58-year-old, who was previously in charge of Bayern Munich before landing the Germany job in 2021, admitted he was “brutally disappointed” following the heavy friendly loss, but insists he is still the “right manager” for Die Mannschaft, per BBC Sport.

Germany captain Ilkay Gundogan told reporters after the match: “We are not good enough right now, it's a completely bitter day - we all need to ask questions of ourselves.” While midfielder Joshua Kimmich commented: "The bottom line is that it was a well-deserved defeat. We had nothing up front in the second half. We haven't actually played a good game since the World Cup. This has to give us pause and we have to question our quality."

Speculation is rife that Germany will now replace Flick in the coming days, although he may still be in charge for Tuesday night’s friendly against World Cup finalists France. Rudi Voller, Germany’s director of football, labelled the 4-1 loss to Japan “a disgrace” - and it certainly wouldn’t be a shock if a new manager is appointed imminently with a view to sorting the team out ahead of next summer’s European Championships.

Video: Rudiger's bizarre defending vs Japan goes viral

Back to Rudiger’s suspect ‘defending’ - if you can call it that - for Japan’s first goal now. The experienced centre-back, 30, inexplicably delayed his sprint back after teammate Robin Gosens was caught in possession. Kubo broke away at speed, but Rudiger stood still and watched for a couple of seconds.

The former Chelsea defender eventually ran back - half-heartedly, it must be said - but it was too late by this point. The lively Kubo squared the ball to Asano to stick the ball into an unguarded net. The footage has subsequently gone viral on social media, with many football fans wondering what on earth Rudiger was doing. Watch it below:

It’s hard to work out what was going through Rudiger’s head as Kubo initially broke away. Was he simply feeling too tired to sprint back? Moments before receiving the ball, the defender was seen with his hands on his knees, suggesting he may have been struggling.

While some football fans believe exhaustion was to blame for the curious incident, others believe Rudiger’s “extremely suspicious” defending is clear evidence that Germany’s stars aren’t playing for Flick anymore and want the manager gone.