‘Sorry, but your careers are over’

DROPS A BOMBSHELL MUELLER ANGRY AS LOEW

Berlin

Thomas Mueller said on Wednesday he was “angry” over Joachim Loew’s “bad taste” decision to axe him and Bayern Munich team-mates Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels from the Germany squad.

National coach Loew flew to Munich on Tuesday to tell Mueller, 29, Boateng and Hummels, both 30, that their international careers are over.

The World Cup-winning trio have earned 246 caps between them.

“The more I think about it, the more the way it was done, makes me angry,” said Mueller in a two-minute video message posted on his social networks.

“The coach’s sudden decision obviously left me puzzled. A coach must make sporting decisions, I do not have a problem with that.

“But it’s mostly the character of the decision that I don’t understand. Mats, Jerome and I are still able to play at the highest level.

“The press releases of the German football federation (DFB) and its president (Reinhard Grindel), prepared in advance, were from my point of view in bad taste and showed a lack of consideration.”

Earlier Wednesday, Bayern chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said he was “irritated” that Loew dropped the bombshell on Tuesday – a week before the crunch Champions League home game against Liverpool and in the midst of the Bundesliga title race.

“We consider the timing and circumstances of the announcement, both to the players and public, as questionable”, wrote Rummenigge in a joint statement with sport director Hasan Salihamidzic. “The last international match of the German national team took place on 19 November 2018 – three-and-a-half months ago.”

Loew made the announcement with Germany to host Serbia on March 20 in a friendly, before playing a Euro 2020 qualifier away to the Netherlands four days later.

The 59-year-old Germany boss has been under pressure to make sweeping changes since his side crashed out of the 2018 World Cup in the first round.

Mueller, Boateng and Hummels were at the core of the side which won the 2014 World Cup, but the trio were off form during poor displays by the entire team in Russia last year.

Former Bayern and Germany midfielders Lothar Matthaeus and Stefan Effenberg have also questioned Loew’s timing. –