KAZAN – Joachim Loew says he needs time to decide his future after Germany crashed out of the World Cup finals following a shock 2-0 defeat to South Korea on Wednesday.
After 12 years in charge, Germany’s head coach will be under intense pressure to resign in the coming days, despite having only signed a contract extension until 2022 last month.
“It’s too soon for me to answer, it will take a few hours to see things clearly, the disappointment is very deep in me,” 58-year Loew when asked if he will resign.
“We will have to have discussions tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes.”
It is the first time Germany have failed to qualify from the group stages at a World Cup since 1938 as the holders became the latest defending champions to crash out early.
“This is a huge disappointment for us – there was deathly silence in the dressing room,” said Loew.
“Congratulations to our opponents, the Swedes and the Mexicans. We were rightly eliminated from the tournament. We had many goal possibilities, but we could not force the goal.”
Meanwhile, defender Mats Hummels said exit was a “bitter” shock for the team. “It is a really, really bitter evening for us,” admitted Hummels, who squandered a late chance when he headed over.
“The situation is very difficult to put into words,” he told ZDF. “We did not put the ball in the net, even though we had plenty of opportunities, including myself in the 86th minute – I have to score from chances like that.
“It is a very bitter evening for us and for all German football fans. We believed in it until the very end, we tried to shoot, but we just couldn’t get the ball in.
“We had plenty of opportunities, we broke our necks trying out there today.”
Speechless 😶 Germany are out of the #WorldCup. #DieMannschaft #ZSMMN #KORGER2-0 pic.twitter.com/FhN2QtNZmp
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) June 27, 2018
Germany qualified for Russia with a perfect record of 10 wins, but Hummels said the last time the team played well was when they wrapped up qualification late last year.
Their problems in Russia began when they lost 1-0 to Mexico in their opening match.
“We put ourselves in this situation after the Mexican game,” Hummels said.
“The last game we delivered a good performance was in the autumn of 2017.”
As much as it hurts to bow out this early, congratulations to #SWE and #MEX. We wish you good luck in the knockouts 👏 pic.twitter.com/6gbNpePRTm
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) June 27, 2018
Midfielder Sami Khedira said Germany had simply failed to live up their status as defending champions in Russia. “This is one of the most difficult moments for the team and me personally,” the Juventus midfielder said.
Khedira was recalled to the team against South Korea after being dropped for the narrow win over Sweden, but produced another ineffective performance.
“Before the tournament, we said that the world champions have to lead the way. That is not easy to do, but we didn’t take on the task.
“Personally, I am one of the first to take responsibility and we now have to live with the consequences. The last 10 years have been sensational.”