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| CHILD’S PLAY: Italians celebrate a goal during their semi-final against Germany in Warsaw on Thursday |
Germany embarked on their Euro 2012 with the aim of winning a first trophy since 1996, only to be stopped yet again by Italy, 2-1 in the semi-finals from Mario Balotelli’s double on Thursday night in Warsaw.
Loew was left to defend team tactics after the latest setback - following semi-final defeats at the last two World Cups and a loss in the Euro 2008 final.
There were plenty of raised eyebrows when Loew brought on midfielder Toni Kroos, winger Lukas Podolski and forward Mario Gomez for Marco Reus, Andre Schuerrle and Miroslav Klose, who had been so influential in the 4-2 quarter-final win over Greece.
The move was designed to contain the Italian midfield run by Andrea Pirlo and Daniele de Rossi - and backfired.
“Who would be more surprised by this surprise coup: the Italians?
The Germans themselves?” asked the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Fact is that no one was close to Pirlo when he fell back and sent a long pass to the left wing which set up the opening goal. On the second goal, Riccardo Montolivo had plenty of space on the same wing for another long pass, this time straight to Balotelli.
With Kroos coming on in theory for the right winger Reus, but quickly moving into central midfield, the German right was neglected on attack and exposed on defence.
It also didn’t help their cause that Bastian Schweinsteiger had another day to forget, Gomez and Podolski were below par and that defensive errors also contributed to Balotelli’s strikes.
Reus and Klose brought more danger after the break but it did not help as Mesut Oezil’s goal in stoppage time came too late.
Loew remained defiant.
“In retrospect we could have this or that. Mario Gomez scored three goals in the tournament and was very good in training. We wanted to bolster the centre with Toni against Pirlo and de Rossi. The game was completely balanced until the first goal,” Loew said.
The coach said that taking everything into account there was no reason for doubts around the youngest team of the tournament that beat Portugal, the Netherlands and Denmark in a tough group, and Greece in the quarters after winning all 10 qualifiers as well.
“Overall we had two very good years. The team has developed in outstanding fashion. We lost against another strong Italian team. There is no reason to question everything. We had the youngest team and still played a strong tournament. The team will get over this defeat and develop further,” Loew said.
“We have caught up with many nations in the past years. Today we failed to take the last step. But there will be other opportunities.” Germany have become the envy of many football nations with an at times stunning transition from rock-bottom at winless Euro 2000 to the latest heights - thanks largely to a complete overhaul of the youth sector which has created stars like Oezil, Reus or Sami Khedira - arguably the best German player at Euro 2012. Mats Hummels made a strong impression as central defender apart from a costly error ahead of the first Italy and Loew said there was no reason for another overhaul.
“There were a few young players at Euro who gained experience and played well like Marco Reus. Others like Mario Goetze also have great prospects. There won’t be major personnel overhaul. We have a very young team,” said Loew.
Loew’s main task ahead of the next opportunity at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil - for which qualifying starts in autumn - will be to iron out mistakes.