Former Liverpool midfielder Didi Hamann has aimed a jibe at the England national team by questioning whether their European Championship’s runners up spot should still be ‘deemed a success’ after European champions Italy were surprisingly defeated by North Macedonia in their World Cup qualifying clash.
The shock result denied Italy a spot at the 2022 Qatar World Cup at the end of this year and means the Azzurri have now missed out on two successive World Cup tournaments.
Roberto Mancini’s side defeated the Three Lions at Wembley last summer in the final of the European Championships, but despite the loss, Gareth Southgate’s outfit were praised for how they performed throughout the tournament.
England remained undefeated right throughout the tournament until the penalty-shootout defeat to the Italians in the final and even defeated Hamann’s former national side Germany 2-0 in the last-16.
But due to the fact Italy were beaten 1-0 by North Macedonia, who are ranked 67 in FIFA’s world rankings, on Thursday in their World Cup Qualifier, our old No. 16 has questioned whether England’s ‘runner up spot is still deemed a success’.
Southgate received an OBE after the tournament last year for his services to football despite losing to the Italians in the final, which has led to Hamann taking to his Twitter page to claim OBEs were ‘given out like smarties’.
There is a rivalry between the German and English national sides and the 48-year-old clearly wanted to make his thoughts heard.
You can see Hamann’s tweet below courtesy of his Twitter page.
After seeing what happened to Italy last night I wonder whether last years runner up spot is still deemed a success for England. Golden opportunity missed but still OBE‘s given out like smarties
— Didi Hamann (@DietmarHamann) March 25, 2022