Goodbyes are never easy to say, but we must quit the stage when the ovation is loudest. Perhaps the time for it for Jogi Low was after the Maracana victory in July 2014 when he led Die Mannschaft to World Cup glory for the first time in 24 years.
Things change quickly in football. Low was appointed coach of the German National Team in 2006 after serving as assistant to Jurgen Klinsmann for two years prior his appointment and has had a stellar record in charge of Nationalelf. His 64.9% win percentage in 168 matches over 12 years is proof of the German tactician impressive job done. Going to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Germany went to the Mundial as defending champions, Confederations Cup champions and European u21 champions. The core of the World Cup winning team were still in their prime, the Confederations Cup team was young, energetic and electric. As European champions at u21 level with a bright future, German football couldn’t have been in a better place.
Three months after the FIFA World Cup, many things have changed. First it was the disastrous World Cup campaign or should it be called the curse of defending champions. Mesut Ozil public spat with DFB president Reinhard Grindel and his shock retirement from international football. Low was given a vote of confidence after the World Cup to continue as coach of the national team. The new UEFA Nations League was supposed to serve as a decent competition to help improve the coach and team image post the World Cup but things appear to remain the same or even getting worse. Last Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Netherlands at the Amsterdam ArenA, a team that failed to qualify for 2016 UEFA European Championship and 2018 FIFA World Cup is the latest embarrassing defeat suffered by Low’s team. Netherlands on their own are rebuilding under new coach Ronald Koeman who handed international debuts to Denzel Dumfries and Steven Bergwijn in this game. The Oranje last defeated Germany in a competitive game at the European Championship in 1992.
What is the problem with Die Mannschaft? Suddenly the goals have dried up, Germany have not scored in two matches played in the UEFA Nations League. What about his tactics, are they becoming obsolete? One of the criticism levelled against the 58-year-old is his loyalty to the players who won World Cup. Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Toni Kroos, Thomas Mueller have been performing below expected level with numerous individual errors. The German media has picked on these players and the new narrative is for new bloods to be injected into the team as mainstays. Marc-Andre ter Stergen, Leroy Sane, Niklas Sule, Leon Goretzka and Julian Brandt must be thinking hard of what they need to do to dislodge the senior players. It is quite easy for many to jump on the bandwagon of dropping the older players for the new ones but that would be difficult for a coach to do considering many of these players were his trusted allies and they played important roles on the way to winning the World Cup. It does sound sentimental in a result driven environment but the people operating are human so Low finds himself in a delicate position. The German National Team coach is beginning to feel the heat more and he must admit that results and performances need improve if he is still the right man for his job. He is running out of argument to protect his World Cup winners as Germany are now called a mediocre European team at the moment.
These are Low’s lowest moment in a job he took 12 years ago. Tonight’s game against reigning World Champions France in Paris could be a turning point for him and German football. Another poor result tonight would see Germany get relegated in this competition.
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