Sunday 18th July 2021
Abortion and accusation of racism
Germany’s lawsuit, Honduras’ defense
A test match of the German Olympic selection is canceled. The opponent from Honduras is said to have racially insulted Jordan Torunarigha. In Central America one speaks of a misunderstanding. Everyone wants to forget the incident.
Stefan Kuntz took the “dissolved” Jordan Torunarigha tightly in his arms, the meager 1: 1 in the Olympic test against Honduras quickly became a minor matter for the German footballers in view of the racism scandal shortly before the end of the game. “That violates our values - we cannot tolerate that,” said DFB coach Kuntz, who left the pitch with his team five minutes before the final whistle in Wakayama, Japan, indignantly.
During the meeting on Saturday, Kuntz was amazed at the strange body language of Torunarigha. “Five minutes before the end there was a scramble. I saw Jordan’s facial expressions and immediately ran to him. He was hard to beat, was terribly upset and was very upset. He said that he was repeatedly racially insulted”, said Kuntz, who called the incidents “sad and pathetic”.
As a result, he told the referee and the opponent that he wanted to abandon the game. His players supported this decision. “Racism simply has no place in football,” said Max Kruse, while captain Maximilian Arnold confirmed: “We have made a statement.” Torunarigha had already been confronted with racially motivated insults at the cup match between Schalke and Hertha in February 2020. In the extension, the visibly angry Hertha defender saw the yellow-red card.
A misunderstanding?
Exactly what words were used in Wakayama on Saturday remained unclear. Honduras’ association said in an official statement after the game of a “misunderstanding between the players of both teams”. From Honduran circles it is heard that after a foul by Torunarigha there should have been mutual insults, parts of which the Berlin professional could have perceived as racist.
The association announced that the federation was fully committed to the fight against racial or ethnic discrimination. The country is multicultural, “and our Olympic team reflects and supports diversity”. Both Honduras and the DFB no longer wanted to comment on the incidents against ntv.de and went back to the agenda.
No investigation of the incidents so far
Stefan Kuntz, on the other hand, spoke shortly after the game ended prematurely. He said he could only laugh at the explanation. “When I came home earlier with a six, I always told my mother that there was a misunderstanding between the teacher and me,” said the DFB coach, adding: “I’d better leave that uncommented.”
After all, the Central American team came to the DFB team after the cancellation and apologized. “That was the end of the topic for us,” said Kuntz, who wants to check off the incident as quickly as possible. After all, the first group game against Brazil on Thursday is approaching with giant strides. It was heard from Honduras that the team was surprised at the behavior of the DFB selection. So far, nothing is known of an investigation by the IOC or FIFA into the incidents. The game, which was played over 3×30 minutes, was not an official game.
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