MOSCOW: Defending champions Germany lacked personality and team spirit, contributing to their shock World Cup first-round exit, their former World Cup-winning captain Lothar Matthaeus said on Thursday. Speaking at a soccer event on Moscow’s Red Square, Matthaeus, who led Germany to the 1990 title, said everything that worked in their favour in 2014 when they won in Brazil had now gone against them. “First we missed the performance, and when you don’t have the performance, you cannot expect results,” Matthaeus said. “I think everybody made mistakes, from the coach to the players, many players didn’t perform (with) good personality, and I think we missed team spirit. “Everything that was good four years ago in Brazil was going badly in Russia,” Matthaeus said. Published in Daily Times, June 29th 2018.