After many peaks and troughs – from the 7-1 in
Brazil to the 6-0 in
Spain – will Löw go out in a blaze of glory at the Euros?
By Jason Humphreys for Englische Woche
Joachim Löw’s announcement that he will step down as
Germany manager after the European Championship hardly came as a surprise. If anything, it’s a wonder he managed to – or even wanted to – continue for so long after the fallout from the
World Cup in 2018. After their title defence ended at the group stage, Löw and his team were subjected to the usual mix of finger pointing and soul searching.
Löw kept his
Job, just, and came out pedalling a new Germany, dumping some cornerstones of past success, most notably Thomas Müller, and promoting young players in a fresh-faced squad. Unfortunately for the manager, Uefa slapped the Nations League right in the middle of his roadmap out of the crisis and his team had to face up to failure very early on, ending 2018 with disappointing results against
France and the Netherlands before losing 6-0 to Spain in Seville last November. It was a humiliating defeat for Löw – Germany’s biggest in 89 years – but, by now, he has seen everything that can be thrown at an international manager.