Boateng defends Ozil after criticism

Jerome Boateng has defended Mesut Ozil after the playmaker was the subject of whistling during Germany's 2-2 draw with Cameroon on Sunday.

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The Arsenal midfielder had come under fire from German media after another lacklustre performance versus Cameroon ahead of the World Cup.

Ozil wasted the chance to open the scoring when he put the ball past the wrong side of the post only 40 seconds into the friendly in Moenchengladbach.

"Set up [Marco] Reus' big chance with a great pass after 35 minutes, but disappeared over major parts of the match," wrote football magazine kicker about Ozil's performance.

Fans at the Borussia Park in Moenchengladbach whistled the 42.4 million pound signing from Real Madrid when he was substituted for his Arsenal teammate Lukas Podolski in the 64th minute.

"I don't get it, I can't understand it. Maybe it's better those people don't show up in the stadium at all," German defender Boateng said in his postmatch news conference.

Germany head coach Joachim Loew admitted that Ozil "did not have his best day" and added: "He still needs two week. We will see a strong Mesut at the World Cup."

On Tuesday, German broadsheet Die Welt wrote about Ozil's fall from grace in recent months: "His bad body language became more striking as the minutes past.

"The body tension was missing. Most of the time he was only trotting around the pitch. He lamented, he was at odds.

"Loew now will maybe consider if the in-form Marco Reus, who has played on the left wing so far, might be the better playmaker for Germany."

The paper was also referring to comments made by Joachim Loew in mid-May.

"Mesut needs to work on his body language. He has heard it from me, and, I believe, also from Arsene Wenger," the Germany coach had told kicker at that time.