MISTAKES MADE
Germany’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of Italy in the semi-final of the Euro 2012 was his mistake according to the German manager Joachim Loew. The former assistant manager has come under intense criticism in recent months due to the inability of the team to perform well in the final stages of a major competition. Despite having made it into the finals and semifinals of major competitions since 2006, the team has been unable to record even a single trophy. Germany were with a great chance of winning the Euro 2012 because they came into the competition as the favourites.
However, they were defeated in the semi-final of the competition by the Italian team, who were not fancied to even get to this stage of the competition. Mario Balotelli scored both goals for Italy, while the Real Madrid midfielder Mesut Ozil rescued a goal for the Germans. Loew has now said that he is willing to take blame for the defeat because he approached the game in a manner. Due to the experiences in many matches since then, Loew feels that he would have done differently had he got the opportunity to do so. The 52-year-old has come under intense pressure in recent times especially after the 4-4 draw with Sweden in which Germany threw away a four goal lead.
“With the knowledge I have today, I would probably approach the Italy game differently. I had a clear plan for that game and of course I have to now admit that the plan did not work. Against Sweden, I got (Mario) Goetze and (Lukas) Podolski to drop deeper to try give us more security and that did not work. The year 2012 was constructive for all of us and I have certainly learned from it,” said Loew in a recent interview.