Germany headed into the summer’s World Cup as defending champions and many expected Die Mannschaft to do well once again in Russia. However, results prior to the tournament were warning signs of what was to come.
The world champions were hot favourites to get out of a group containing Sweden, South Korea and Mexico. However, the campaign was a disaster, as Joachim Low’s team suffered defeats against Mexico and South Korea. The world champions exited at the group stage and the post-mortem into what went wrong began around the world.
Relegation in the Nations League
The newly established Nations League looked like the perfect opportunity for Germany to bounce back, even if it would nowhere make up for their terrible performances in Russia.
Germany were drawn alongside world champions France and the Netherlands in Group A1. While Die Mannschaft may have feared the world champions, they would have believed that they could win the group.
However, their Nations League campaign has been a disaster too. The group concluded on Monday night with a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands, which saw the Oranje win the group.
The game mattered little to Germany anyway, though, as they had already suffered relegation to the B Groups. Low’s team failed to win any of their group games, picking up just two points from four points.
Low has promised changes
No doubt Germany have a talented group of players to choose from, so it understandable that questions are being asked of Germany head coach Joachim Low. However, it is not easy to dispense with a coach who has overseen a World Cup victory.
Low has promised radical changes to the current squad. Germany have a seemingly never-ending conveyor belt of young promising players coming through the ranks, so it should not be a massive headache finding replacements for underperforming players currently in the national team squad.
The Germany head coach has a big job on his hands lifting spirits amongst the players who he wishes to keep in his squad, despite the World Cup and Nations League disappointments.
It seems that Low will be given the chance to turn things around, as the DFB seem to be reluctant to make a change. However, in modern football time is often in short supply for bosses of underperforming teams. There is a feeling that Low will have to turn things around quickly or he will be out of a job.
Concentrating on qualifying for the European Championships
Low has talked about starting from scratch and concentrating on building a team to qualify for the European Championship in 2020. Despite their failure at the two latest international tournaments, Germany are still third favourites at odds of 7/1 to win the European Championships.
Relegation from Nations League A is likely to affect Germany’s seeding for the European Championships. However, Die Mannschaft should qualify from their group, even if they are not regarded as the top seeds, with the top two teams from each of the ten groups qualifying for the finals stage.
Another failure would be a major disaster for the Germans, who have not missed a European Championship in 50 years. They have also finished in the final four in the last three Euro’s.
Germany have endured a terrible six months or so. However, there is still a lot of talent in and around that Die Mannschaft squad. It would be a big mistake to ever write-off the Germans, as they have a habit of making big returns.
Their odds to win Euro 2020 say everything about their standing in the game. It would not surprise me if they once again reached the last four of the competition.
Should Joachim Low continue as Germany’s head coach?
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