Loew’s now feeling the pressure
All falls apart for baffled champs
WORLD Cup holders Germany returned home yesterday desperately looking for answers following their historic exit, with head coach Joachim Loew set to suffer the consequences of a disastrous campaign.
In one of the competition’s biggest ever shocks, Germany failed to reach the group stage of a World Cup for the first time for 80 years, but it was the meek manner of their capitulation against South Korea in their final game that really stung.
“We all made mistakes,” said defender Mats Hummels after the stunning 2-0 defeat left them bottom of Group F – and he meant the players, Loew and team director Oliver Bierhoff.
After 12 years in charge crowned by the 2014 World Cup win in Brazil, Loew is considering his future after getting his tactics so badly wrong and placing faith in former stars past their prime.
The sight of Mexico pouring through the German midfield during the first half of the defeat in the opener against Mexico was the clearest example.
Hardly anyone in the German setup leaves Russia with any credit.
Bierhoff is blamed for choosing the isolated base camp at Vatutinki, southwest of Moscow, which caused unhappiness among the players.
“You didn’t get the feeling that we were playing at a World Cup,” was captain and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s damning appraisal.
Germany even had the shame of having to suspend two of their team officials for over-exuberant celebrations in Russia, but lack of personnel to perform the same duties as those who retired was catastrophic. It does not matter how good your centrebacks, if you lack speed and are regularly left man-for-man with attackers, you will get caught out. in front of Sweden manager Janne Andersson after the 2-1 win that appeared to have saved their skins.
After Italy in 1950, Brazil in 1966, France in 2002, Italy in 2010 and Spain in 2014, Germany join an infamous club of reigning champs knocked out in the group stage at the next World Cup.
“We’re all stunned – we’re shocked,” said Thomas Mueller, the pillar of the 2014 team.
Loew said he took responsibility for the failure, yet 12 months ago he could do no wrong.
He won the 2017 Confederations Cup, the World Cup warmup, with an inexperienced squad, and seemed ready to defend their global title. Last month, he signed a contract extension with the German Football Association (DFB) until 2022, but there are already calls for him to resign.
If he goes, the 58-year-old’s misguided loyalty in senior players like Mueller, Hummels, Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos and Jerome Boateng will have been a key factor in his downfall.
Loew will need to rethink how to nurture a new team. From the next generation of Germany starlets he unearthed at the Confederations Cup, only Timo Werner and Joshua Kimmich were rewarded with regular spots in the senior team.
Loew only gave rising stars like Julian Brandt, Leon Goretzka, Sebastian Rudy and Niklas Suele first-team places when his 2014 winners were struggling, suspended or injured.
Leroy Sane, the forward who shone for Manchester City last season, was cut from the final squad.
Germany pride themselves on being “a tournament team”, which knows how to rise to the occasion, but that notion was blown apart in Russia.
“The last time we played well was autumn 2017,” said Hummels, referring to the 5-1 crushing of minnows Azerbaijan in October.
The first chance to make amends is on September 6 against France in Munich in the new Nations League, but it shows how far Germany have fallen that if they win it will be only their third victory in 10 games.
● Last night Tunisia beat Panama 21 after they battled it out to avoid finishing bottom of Group G in the final dead rubber of the tournament.
● While Adnan Januzaj, a former Premier League rising star at Manchester United, curled in a left-footed shot in the second half to give Belgium a 1-0 victory over England.
Belgium is now set to play Japan and England will face off with Colombia.