World Cup 2018: Former England forward Sinclair blames Germany's early exit woe on Sane exclusion

Former Manchester City forward Trevor Sinclair has blamed Germany’s decision not to take Leroy Sane to Russia on the champions’ early exit.

Germany suffered a shock 2-0 defeat by South Korea after losing 1-0 to Mexico earlier in the group stages, only beating Sweden.

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That condemned the 2014 World Cup winners to an early exit – the fourth time in the last five tournaments the defending champions have gone out at the first stage.

And former England and West Ham man Sinclair told Yahoo Sport’s flagship show The 32: “I think they are a scalp, aren’t they? Anyone that plays against the defending champions, well, they have a scalp on their head.

“I think everyone has gone there, been a little more motivated and they have struggled.

“Obviously expectancy in that country is high because they won the previous World Cup.

“So I think Germany were a little bit lethargic but from a Manchester City perspective, if you’re not going to put Leroy Sane – who was young player of the Premier League, scored so many goals, assisted so many goals and his parents are athletes – in the team or in the squad, you deserve to go out.”

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