Coach Loew reminds of poor German club performance
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E-mail Xinhua, October 6, 2017
By Oliver Trust
BERLIN, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- German national coach Joachim Loew has expressed concern about the poor performance of German soccer clubs in international competitions after Germany beat Northern Ireland 3-1 on Thursday to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
"Considering the last years, we must admit German clubs haven't won many titles," the 57-year-old told German media.
The victory was the ninth straight in as many qualifiers for the 2014 world champions. And this Sunday, Loew's team can beat the record of the 2010 world champions Spain, who finished the qualification with 30 points and a goal record of 28-5 in the 2008/09 season. In case of their 10th victory, Germany could reach 30 points and improve their current goal record of 38-3.
Loew is pleased about the performance of the national team, but is on alert when it comes to the results of German clubs in the Champions League and the Euro League as the national team needs the support of clubs to secure future success.
Loew called the poor performance alarming as German clubs lost all of their six international duels. "We have to think about the reasons. It was not only last week that German clubs were not very successful, but the last years," Loew emphasized.
Bayern Munich was the last club to win an international title by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the 2013 Champions League final. Only one year later, Germany won the World Cup in Brazil.
Loew mentioned four Champions League victories of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona and three victories of FC Sevilla in the Euro League in the last years.
"To say Germany is the only country with talents or the country with the best talents is wrong. France, Spain, and England have a lot of unique talents too," the German coach said.
Loew said that the German coaching team staff are fully informed about the developments in international football as "our head scout Urs Siegenthaler is traveling a lot to see many international games."
Siegenthaler is currently traveling to countries such as Chile, Brazil, and Argentina to gain information about newest developments.
Like Loew, former German international Thomas Berthold is also concerned about the German club performance. The 1990 World Cup winner said German football has a "tactic and speed problem."
According to Berthold, German clubs have to invest more in the tactical and physical education of young players to get them to an international top level.
"Nobody believes that a club like Sevilla has more money than Bayern Munich. But they are faster in scouting young talents. In Germany, most young footballers play in the third or fourth division. That is a level they don't learn much to be able to compete in international football," Berthold said.
German clubs would have to give young talents more playing minutes in their first teams. Enditem
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