Loew to stay on as Germany coach despite 6-0 loss to Spain, says Bierhoff

Berlin - Germany coach Joachim Loew was at a loss to explain his side’s humiliating 6-0 loss to Spain

Germany coach Joachim Loew is not in danger of losing his job after they were thrashed 6-0 by Spain in their final Nations League group match on Tuesday, national team director Oliver Bierhoff has said.

Germany suffered their worst defeat in a competitive game as Spain ran riot and a shell-shocked Loew was at a loss to explain his side’s capitulation in Seville which prevented their qualification for the Nations League semifinals.

Germany have hit a rough patch this year, winning only three of their last eight matches, but Bierhoff said Loew would remain in charge at least until the Euros next year.

When asked if Loew would remain the coach until next year’s Euros, Bierhoff told ARD TV: “Absolutely, yes. This game changes nothing. We still trust Joachim Loew, no doubt about that.

“With the national team, you have to think and analyse from tournament to tournament. We want to achieve the maximum at next year’s Euros.”

The Euros were originally scheduled for June-July this year but the tournament was postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Germany needed only a draw to progress to the Nations League semifinals but the result ensured Spain advanced as the top ranked team in the group.

Meanwhile, Loew was at a loss to explain his side’s humiliating 6-0 loss to Spain.

“I really don’t know what happened to the team,” Loew told reporters after Germany’s heaviest defeat in 89 years and their worst in competitive football.

“We had hardly any chances and we didn’t win a single individual battle out on the pitch.”

Germany have been on a downward path since crashing out in the group stage at the 2018 World Cup and have won only three of their last eight internationals.

They went into Tuesday’s decisive game top of League A4 after beating Ukraine 3-1 and a draw would have booked their place in the final four, but they fell three goals down by halftime and performed even worse in the second half.

“In the second half we tried to press them high up the pitch to score and get back into the game but Spain played far better than us, they were much faster and played with more precision,” Loew added.

“We said before the game that we trusted in the players in our squad and that we were on the right track, but today we saw that we are not progressing as well as we had thought after our last few games.”

Midfielder Serge Gnabry added: “Nothing worked for us tonight. We couldn’t control them, they deserved to beat us as they did.

“Spain did everything well and we did nothing right. We don’t know what level we’re at right now. It’s not normal to lose a match by so many goals.”