While the outgoing national coach Joachim Löw is avoiding a harsh analysis of the defeat against England, manager Oliver Bierhoff is calling for a radical rejuvenation of the German national team.
Almost 17 hours after the final whistle in London’s Wembley Stadium, national coach Joachim Löw tried to take stock of the European Championship. He didn’t have much more to offer than words of regret about being eliminated from the tournament. Löw, who had looked after the German national team for 15 years, avoided an analysis: “I’m not able to go into detail now.”
Löw’s last appearance at the training camp in Herzogenaurach turned into a nostalgic, sometimes romanticizing look back at his tenure in office. “I’m at peace with myself,” said Loew, dressed in a wine-red hoody. “Much will remain that is important to me in my life.”
Joachim Löw: Still in shock
Loew took “absolute responsibility” for the 2-0 defeat against England, as he said. The night before he had subtly denied guilt; it was not the system that was the reason for the defeat, but individual mistakes. On Wednesday lunchtime Löw still looked as if in shock; the only explanation he had to offer was that his team lacked “cleverness and coolness”. Many of his players have little tournament experience, their performance peak is still ahead of them.
Löw omitted that Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels, Toni Kroos and Thomas Müller had four world champions from 2014 against England on the starting line-up, and that Antonio Rüdiger (28, Champions League winner with Chelsea 2021) and Leon Goretzka (26, Champions League winners with FC Bayern 2020) can be seen as well-established forces.
One would have liked to know from Joachim Löw why he did not trust his offensively talented team in the round of 16. Why he barricaded her deep in her own 16-meter room, so that she had trouble setting up the game. England, that would have been an opponent who could have been played according to a similar match schedule as Portugal (4: 2) in the preliminary round. The England game wasn’t a bad one, but the German team stayed well below their potential. There was little to be seen of Sturm und Drang as against Portugal; the team followed the rabble-footed strategy of their coach, who said goodbye to the DFB with this 0: 2 after 198 international matches.
Oliver Bierhoff: “Build in more U21 players”
What should change in the future, Oliver Bierhoff, the manager of the national team, let through on Wednesday. He would like “that we bring more U21 players back into the team,” said Bierhoff. The team needs a rejuvenation, just as the 2014 world championship team essentially consisted of the U21s from 2009. In particular, these were Neuer, Boateng, Höwedes, Hummels, Khedira and Özil.
Bierhoff does not see such a golden generation mature at the moment, even if U21 coach Stefan Kuntz recently won the European Championship with his team. Bierhoff misses a young striker, someone with a real “killer instinct”, as he complained.
There are definitely great talents in German football. Jamal Musiala, (18, FC Bayern) was only sparsely used by Löw at the European Championship tournament. And this, although Musiala was one of the most conspicuous German players in the few minutes against Hungary (2-2). Florian Wirtz, 18, was trained at 1. FC Köln and has been under contract with Bayer Leverkusen for a year. A gifted man, but apparently not good enough for Löw.
Rejuvenation is now the job of Hansi Flick
Refreshing the national team will now be one of the central tasks of the new national coach, Hansi Flick. This should also have been the criterion for the appointment of the former Bayern coach. “I know that Hansi likes to incorporate young players,” said Bierhoff, emphasizing that promoting talent is “a task for all of German football”.
Joachim Löw will follow the further path of the national team from a distance. He remains a fan of this team, he said and became pathetic again on his last day at work: “My heart keeps beating black-red-gold.”
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
