We Deserve To Go Out, Admits Loew

Germany manager Joachim Loew says his side deserved to go out of the World Cup after they crashed out in the group stage in “historic” fashion.

The defending champions finished bottom of Group F after losing 2-0 to South Korea, the first time Germany have gone out in the first round of a World Cup since 1938.

“This is something for us to reckon with,” Loew said.

“This is historic. I am sure this will create some public uproar in Germany.”

Sweden won the group with a 3-0 win over Mexico at the same time, which meant Germany needed to win their game in Kazan.

“We saw Sweden had taken the lead so we needed to keep the pressure up but our team was missing the ease of play and the classiness we usually have.

“So, we deserve to be eliminated, yes,” said Loew, who had never failed to reach a semi-final before in his 12-year reign.

“At this tournament we didn’t deserve to win again or move to the round of 16. We were eliminated not because we didn’t want to win but we never had the chance to take a lead at any point - we were always lagging behind, trying to keep up.”

Both of the South Korean goals came in injury time. Kim Young-gwon scored from close range, a goal initially disallowed for offside but then awarded after video assistant referee consultation. And with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer losing the ball in South Korea’s half, Ju Se-jong found Son Heungmin with a long ball and the Tottenham forward tapped into an empty net.