Klinsmann defends successor Loew

USA coach Juergen Klinsmann has spoken out in support of under-fire Germany coach Joachim Loew.

The 52-year-old Loew has come under heavy criticism following Germany’s 2-1 Euro 2012 semi-final defeat against Italy.

Although he has a contract which runs until the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Loew suggested on Saturday he might consider a new challenge.

However, former Germany coach Klinsmann, who employed Loew as his assistant during the 2006 World Cup on home soil, believes his old colleague will not walk away.

“Joachim Low does not give up, that I am sure of,” Klinsmann told Stuttgarter Nachrichten.

“He made the semi-finals with a team that has so much room to grow. They went out to a very strong Italian side.

“This team hasn’t fulfilled their potential yet and they still have a lot of room to develop. They were the youngest team at the tournament and now even more young players are coming into the team.”

For the Italy match, Loew switched from his usual 4-2-3-1 formation to a 4-3-3 set-up, and given the result, was criticised heavily.

“It is obvious that some decisions by a coach won’t automatically or always lead to success,” Klinsmann said.

“The coach makes decisions before the game that aren’t arbitrary.

“There is no guarantee for victory.

“This is all part of a footballer or coach’s career. There is no player that doesn’t experience this kind of development. Sometimes you just have to congratulate the better team, that’s a fact of life.”