Klopp walks off when asked about Schweinsteiger’s remarks on Ivory Coast’s style at World Cup

NEW YORK (AP) — World Cup pundit and former coach Jürgen Klopp broke off an interview after being asked about former Germany player Bastian Schweinsteiger’s description of Ivory Coast’s soccer as “unorthodox” and “wild.”

Schweinsteiger made the comments on German broadcaster ARD before Germany played the Ivory Coast last weekend, when he spoke about what the German players could expect from their opponents.

“A bit African football, a bit unorthodox, a bit wild, a bit perhaps also not so conditioned by tactics. We have to be prepared for it to be unpredictable,” Schweinsteiger said.

Some commentators criticized his comments as playing into racist stereotypes. Sports commentator Patrick Schnitzler wrote on Instagram of “racist prejudices that we are all passing on unnoticed,” and journalist Philipp Awounou, who’s Black, wrote in Der Spiegel magazine that the characterizations played on old racist tropes rooted in colonialism. Awounou said he did not think Schweinsteiger is racist.

Klopp, who’s working for broadcaster Magenta, seemed taken aback when asked about Schweinsteiger’s comments by Deutsche Welle in a huddle with journalists in New York on Wednesday.

“Now you want to carry on the subject,” Klopp responded. “No, no, I have no chance. I have no chance to answer this question. Everybody likes it so you bring me in this situation. It’s not my job that everybody likes it, but this is a serious subject, and I don’t even know what is appropriate to say. For African people it’s one thing, for other people it’s another thing, and I’m not here.”

Klopp said he had felt fortunate to avoid the subject.

“Thank God, I thought, nobody asked me about that. You found a moment. And surprisingly, you are German. That surprised me so much,” he said with irony before leaving.

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