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Berlin – “You have inspired our country with your dedication and team spirit at this World Cup.” With such laudatory offers Shortly after our disgraceful World Cup defeat to Paraguay, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (70) exposed himself to ridicule in front of millions of football fans. Now it turns out: his social media post was not planned that way!
As the media unanimously reported, citing government circles, apparently there was a communication failure. A message posted on his social media accounts said there was a “voting error,” it said Tuesday night. This is “unfortunately very annoying.” He used to have “Tagesspiegel” reported this. Accordingly, the office announced: “Wrong tweet, wrong time, wrong button.”
The score 4:5 after a penalty shootout against the South American outsider was called a “tragedy”, “embarrassment” and “an indictment of football in Germany” by the media. Less than half an hour after the final whistle, the official account of the chancellor wrote: “Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz“Still, the almost positive conclusion: “Even if elimination hurts: what a game. (…) We are proud of you.” According to the information, the distribution of this version occurred accidentally. Various options were prepared, but in the end the wrong post came out.
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Soon after the game, mocking comments appeared. According to the Tagesspiegel, a member of the CDU’s federal executive committee even complained: “After this tweet, the question arises which really hurt more. Yesterday’s speech or this classification of the chancellor.” Political competition also reacted maliciously. “I don’t know which was worse. The game or this analysis,” wrote FDP MEP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (68). On X, the trending phrase was “What a game.”
Merz felt obliged contrast this with another post. “We celebrate successes together. And in defeat we stand together. It makes us strong,” he wrote in response to criticism on X. “Anyone who wears an eagle on their chest deserves our support, not our ridicule.”
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