German soccer players from left: Roman Weidenfeller, Shkodran Mustafi, Andre Schuerrle, Miroslav Klose, Mario Goetze and Toni Kroos celebrate on stage at the German team victory ceremony , near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Tuesday July 15, 2014. Germany's World Cup winners shared their fourth title with hundreds of thousands of fans by parading the trophy through cheering throngs to celebrate at the Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday. An estimated 400,000 people packed the "fan mile" in front of the Berlin landmark to welcome home coach Joachim Loew's team and the trophy — which returned to Germany for the first time in 24 years. (AP Photo/ Alex Grimm,Pool) (The Associated Press)
BERLIN – The German Football Federation is defending Germany's World Cup-winning players after they performed a routine that poked fun at defeated opponent Argentina.
During Tuesday's raucous Berlin victory party, six players bent double and sang "this is how the gauchos walk," then jumped up singing "this is how the Germans walk."
The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said the act hurt Germany's image as a tolerant nation and a leading Twitter trend in Germany Wednesday was "#gauchogate."
Federation president Wolfgang Niersbach said the players performed the routine spontaneously and didn't intend to mock anyone.
Niersbach says he'll write to Argentine counterpart Julio Grondona to assure him "the action was in no way meant disrespectfully."