After 15 years
The Löw era is over: farewell of an art teacher
Germany coach Joachim Löw at his last game
© Andy Rain / AFP
In his 15 years as national coach, Joachim Löw has taught the Germans the beautiful game. That’s his legacy. At the end of his term, however, he lacked the ideas for a new beginning. Löw leaves as shortage manager.
The last picture of Joachim Löw as national coach is that of a beaten man. Accompanied by the English anthem “Three Lions”, Löw sneaked into the catacombs of Wembley Stadium just a few seconds after the final whistle. 0: 2 his team had lost against England, due to late goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane. It meant a double end: the European Championship now continues without the Germans – and Löw as the first coach of the country also says goodbye. After 15 years and 198 games with the DFB, he stops.
Joachim Löw did not ” coach”
Even if Löw’s body language sent different signals: It was a worthy farewell for the 61-year-old coach. In the end, two scenes decided the game; Kai Havertz’s powerful volley (48.) was sensationally parried by the English goalkeeper, and nine minutes before the end Thomas Müller just missed the goal to 1: 1 equalizer.
Löw did not fail with his tactics, he did not “coach” the game, as it is called in the football language. In the few decisive moments, Löw’s players were without fortune – and without a real center forward. A cold – mouthed penalty-box player like the English in Harry Kane, the Poles in Robert Lewandowski or France in Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé-there is currently no such player in Germany. The last to fill this post in the national team was Miroslav Klose. With him in the Sturmzentrum Löw became world champion in 2014.
What remains of the Löw era? Of course, the World Cup triumph in Rio de Janeiro, at the Maracanã Stadium. Flank Schürrle, shot Götze, 1-0 in extra time against Argentina – this moment will remain in the collective memory.
An at least as great merit of Löw is that he taught the Germans the beautiful game. He was the nation’s top art teacher. in 2006, at the World Cup in their own country, it flashed for the first time that a DFB team masters more than just the so-called rumble football. Jürgen Klinsmann breathed sophistication and wit into the team – qualities on which only teams such as Spain, France or Portugal seemed to have a patent. Joachim Löw continued Klinsmann’s path; as his assistant coach, he had already been the source of ideas. At the 2010 World Cup, a young, passionate DFB team was then seen storming into the semi-finals and only failing there at the later world champion Spain. This team already formed the core of the team that would triumph in Brazil four years later.
This title win marked the turning point in Löw’s coaching career – but this was only revealed with considerable delay, at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. There is a photo of Lion that tells everything about him and his attitude to the job: Lion leaned casually against a lantern, he wore aviator glasses, he looked like a tourist on summer vacation. 2018 was the year in which Löw seemed to lose his grip. The preparation for the World Cup was slow, but Löw did not accept criticism. Anyone who expressed criticism had simply misinterpreted his football skills.
The tournament then became a disaster. Löw’s team failed as last in the group in the preliminary round; in the end, they even lost to the football dwarf South Korea.
A dismissal of Löw or his voluntary withdrawal would have been an obvious, logical step. But Lion, the stubborn, did not want to leave like that. And the DFB let him do it-also because he had no idea for a successor.
It was only enough for a European Championship round of 16
In the autumn of his career, Löw did not reinvent himself again, but he showed amazing flexibility. He brought the world champions Hummels and Müller back to the team for the Euro 2021 and corrected himself. He allowed his team to play more aggressively and dueling. In earlier years, he would have demonized this as evidence of playful poverty.
What Löw did not manage: to take this team on a new journey. Instead, he constantly worked on well-known weaknesses; so the defense has remained a construction site despite the return of Hummels. Nor has he been able to compensate tactically for the lack of a centre-forward; possibly also an unsolvable task.
In the end, Löw was once again the best lion he could be. But today, seven years after the World Cup triumph in Rio de Janeiro, that is no longer enough. It was only enough for a European Championship round of 16.
