The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Joachim Loew

  • Boateng dropped, Reus recalled for Germany’s matches

    Central defender Jerome Boateng was surprisingly left out of Germany coach Joachim Loew’s squad for this month’s international matches against Russia and Netherlands, but winger Marco Reus was included on Friday.

    Germany face Russia in a friendly on Thursday before taking on The Netherlands four days later as they battle to avoid relegation in the new UEFA Nations League competition.

    “I talked with Jerome. I am convinced he will benefit from a break.

    “I told him that we have a lot of alternatives for his position, especially with young players.

    “Obviously they still need to prove they can reach Jerome’s level.”,” Loew said on the German football association (DFB) website.

    Boateng’s surprise exclusion raised eyebrows at his club Bayern Munich, with coach Niko Kovac calling it a “novelty”.

    “That’s a novelty. But that does not mean that he will not be there again in the future. I do not see it as the end of Jerome’s national team career,” he said

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    The 30-year-old Boateng has played almost a decade for Germany, earning 76 caps and winning the 2014 World Cup.

    Injury-plagued Reus, the Borussia Dortmund captain, missed the October internationals through injury, but his current form with the Bundesliga leaders has earned him a recall.

    “Obviously I am delighted with Marco and that he has a strong phase with Dortmund.

    “He can really help us in this kind of form and that is what I hope for,” he said.

    Germany, who suffered a shock early exit at this year’s World Cup finals in Russia, are bottom of their League A Group 1 with one point from three games.

    France are on top with seven points from three games and the Dutch in second with three points from two matches.

  • Complacency killed Germany’s World Cup hopes

    The reason lies not in numbers but in German football’s complacency in recent years.
    Every aspect of the national pastime, and that includes clubs, the top league, the national association (DFB) and the players themselves, has fed off this complacency for years.

    Ever since their brilliant 2014 World Cup victory the main actors of German football rested on their laurels, raked in the cash and thought the good times would last forever. But they didn’t.

    Two defeats and one last-gasp victory in the group stage meant an embarrassed Germany made their earliest World Cup exit in 80 years on Wednesday.

    Rewind to 2014 just before the world Cup, when four German clubs battled their way through the group stages and into the Champions League round of 16. This season it was just one.

    Back in 2013, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund played out an all-German Champions League final. No German club has made it past the last four since.

    In 2011 and 2012 Dortmund won the league. Since then it has been a Bayern monopoly. The reasons for all this are simple: money.

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    The Bundesliga is eager to highlight its ongoing financial boom, but that boom has also brought with it a one-sided, boring and predictable competition where Bayern win every time.

    The lack of league competition, as the cash-rich DFB looks on without any interest of intervening, has meant that German players have seriously lost their competitive edge.

    Deals in China are more important than giving fans in Freiburg or Hanover a decent competition to watch.

    Even Bayern does not need to create its own players anymore. Its swelling savings account has meant it can just buy them, with Thomas Mueller being their truly home-grown player.

    Add to that Germany coach Joachim Loew’s own complacency, with the coach stubbornly insisting on fielding virtually the same core of players for almost a decade.

    “Why should I lose trust in them after one game,” he snapped after their opening defeat to Mexico.

    Players like Mueller, Jerome Boateng, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira and Manuel Neuer have long stopped chasing international success and are now quicker to show off their latest clothes, cars, houses, tattoos or shoes than their latest football achievements. Their collective last good season was back in 2014.

    Even the DFB’s own smugness was evident in its tournament slogan — ‘the Best Never Rest’ —, its constant marketing drive and sponsor photo shoots and its continuous demand to “bring back the fifth star” — a fifth world title.

    When two DFB employees stormed the Sweden bench after Germany’s last-second 2-1 victory to celebrate and gesticulate at their opponents, it was indicative of their complacency suddenly being replaced by pure panic.

    Until that point the DFB had no clue a disaster was looming.

    Whether Loew decides to stay on, the post-World Cup Germany coach must clean house and rebuild the team from the same source as the 2014 World Cup-winning team.

    The country’s outstanding youth work and its vast pool of talented players was the start of their decade-long exciting run in world football.

    It is there the coach must turn to, instead of players more interested in taking pictures of their latest sports cars or presidents.

  • Sane misses out, Neuer makes Germany World Cup squad

    Leroy Sane was a surprise omission from Joachim Loew’s final Germany squad for the World Cup finals on Monday as goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was named among the 23 players heading to Russia.

    Neuer made the squad despite playing in just one official game, a friendly against Austria on Friday, since breaking a bone in his foot in September but talented 22-year-old Sane was the biggest name to miss out.

    The Manchester City midfielder, goalkeeper Bernd Leno, forward Nils Petersen and defender Jonathan Tah were the four players that failed to make the cut.

    Germany captain Neuer, who won the World Cup four years ago, will also be their first choice keeper for the tournament, ahead of designated number two Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Kevin Trapp.

    Loew announced his squad at the end of a training camp at the Italian Alps.

    The Germans play their last warm-up game against Saudi Arabia in Leverkusen on Friday before the start of the tournament on June 14.

    Germany is in Group F along with Sweden, Mexico and South Korea.

    Squad: Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Paris St Germain).

    Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha Berlin), Antonio Ruediger (Chelsea), Niklas Suele (Bayern Munich).

    Midfielders: Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (Paris St Germain), Leon Goretzka (Schalke 04), Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Sebastian Rudy (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal).

  • Germany’s Neuer will be first-choice if he makes World Cup – Bierhoff

    Manuel Neuer will be Germany’s first-choice goalkeeper at next month’s FIFA World Cup if he makes the final squad, team manager Oliver Bierhoff said on Thursday.

    The former Germany striker said this even against the background of the fact that the 2014 World Cup winner has not played a competitive game since September.

    Neuer missed almost the entire season after breaking a bone in his foot and undergoing surgery.

    His comeback for Bayern Munich was repeatedly delayed and the 32-year-old has had no match practice ahead of the tournament starting in Russia on June 14.

    He played in both recent training matches against Germany’s Under-20 team at their training base in Italy and is set to play in their friendly international against Austria on Saturday.

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    “Manuel will go to the World Cup as our number one,” Bierhoff told reporters at their training camp in Eppan, northern Italy. “If he makes the squad, then Marc-Andre (ter Stegen) will be number two.”

    There are four goalkeepers, including FC Barcelona’s ter Stegen, Paris St Germain’s Kevin Trapp and Bayer Leverkusen’s Bernd Leno, in coach Joachim Loew’s 27-man preliminary squad, preparing in the Italian Alps.

    He will cut four players, including one goalkeeper, on Monday for his final 23.

    “Manuel is already full on track. He does not need to get back on it. All the players have left a big impression here and it is as very difficult decision,” Bierhoff said.

    “On the evening before the team announcement there will be the final thoughts among the coaching staff. By noon the next day the players will be informed.”

    The Germans also expect Chancellor Angela Merkel to drop in on their camp this week.

    “My information is that on Sunday she will drop by. Before our training camp we visited her and she had hinted that she wanted to say hello without too much fanfare,” Bierhoff said.

    “It’s kind of a tradition. It is nice to hear from her and how she sees the team’s situation going into the tournament.”

    The Germans, who also face Saudi Arabia in Leverkusen on June 8 in their final warm-up match, are in World Cup Group F with Sweden, South Korea and Mexico.

    The tournament starts on June 14.

    NAN