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U21 national player Mbom chooses DFB - "Proud to wear the eagle on your chest"

2021-10-11T15:45:23.420Z


Manuel Mbom thought carefully and then decided in favor of his mother country Germany. The U21 international is proud of the black eagle on his chest.


Manuel Mbom thought carefully and then decided in favor of his mother country Germany.

The U21 international is proud of the black eagle on his chest.

Cologne - Behind Manuel Mbom lies an emotional week.

"To decide something like this at the age of 21 is something final," said Mbom after his third game for the U21 national team *.

The native of Göttingen, whose father comes from Cameroon, made a conscious and irrevocable decision in favor of Germany with this commitment.

He was and is "proud to wear the eagle on his chest".

In an interview with the German Football Association (DFB), Mbom made it clear that this decision is anything but self-evident: "I have two hearts in me, it will always stay that way".

DFB U21: Manuel Mbom proud of "black eagle"

This is one of the reasons why the defender wanted to "discuss the whole thing again intensively and in peace with my family" before the 3-2 win against Israel last Thursday.

This was followed by "the clear decision to play for Germany" and not for his homeland Cameroon.

Mbom, who has played in all junior national teams since the U15, is aware of the special situation of being allowed to wear the "black eagle on the chest".

"That's what every child who falls in love with football wants," said the 21-year-old in the documentary "Black Eagles", which thematizes the experiences of black footballers in the DFB jersey.

“Black Eagles”: Racist hostility is an everyday occurrence

"It is good to turn this symbol, which is so important for Germany, around a little to illuminate it from a different perspective," said Mbom, referring to the past.

In the documentary, the former national players Erwin Kostedde, Jimmy Hartwig and Gerald Asamoah reported regular racist hostility.

"The N-word was used a lot," said Jordan Torunarigha from Hertha BSC, who was insulted with monkey sounds at the cup game at Schalke in February 2020.

With Manuel Mbom, the discrimination was expressed in a more subtle way: "The way people look at me or treat me, I noticed that I have a different skin color."

Unlike Kostedde in the 1950s and 1960s, the Werder Bremen professional never had the feeling “that I wanted to do away with my skin color.

It's more that I think my skin color is cool and I'm proud of it ”.

U21 national team: Successful thanks to multiculturalism

Ten players from the current U21 squad could still play for another association, but they have chosen the DFB.

"I'm not so drawn to that that I really want to play for Nigeria now," said debutant Kevin Schade (19) last week.

Former US junior player Malik Tillman (19) also sees the eagle on his chest as "a special honor".

With three wins in the first three European Championship qualifiers, the U21s traveled to Szeged on Sunday under their new Italian head coach Antonio Di Salvo.

There the defending champion will meet Hungary on Tuesday (5.30 p.m. / ProSieben).

Source: merkur

All sports articles on 2021-10-11

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