Germany's Loew says time for World Cup party to wind down

DUESSELDORF Germany (Reuters) - There is nothing wrong with savouring July's fourth World Cup win as far as Germany coach Joachim Loew is concerned, but he said it was now time for the party to start winding down.

Germany's Loew says time for World Cup party to wind down

(Reuters)





Loew was surprisingly unperturbed after his team’s woeful performance in a 4-2 home defeat to Argentina in a rematch of the World Cup final.

He even found positive things to say about the young and inexperienced team he fielded, who trailed 4-0 early in the second half.

Yet after a final celebration in Duesseldorf on Wednesday, where the recently retired Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose and Per Mertesacker were presented with gifts before an appreciative crowd, Loew said it was time to get back to work and get ready for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

"It’s nice to come together one last time to say farewell to all the players who are not with us anymore," Loew said.

"It wasn’t really possible to do that after the World Cup in Berlin. But after tonight’s gathering that is going to be the end of the World Cup (celebrations)."

The Germany players flew directly to Berlin from Brazil to celebrate with hundreds of thousands of fans at the Brandenburg Gate but the celebrations got slightly out of hand when some of the squad mocked the beaten Argentina players.

They chanted: "This is how Gauchos walk, Gauchos they walk like this", before jumping up to shout: "This is how Germans walk, Germans they walk like this!"

The incident caused a major stir in the German media and there was speculation the chants might give Argentina's players extra motivation to exact revenge on the pitch.

But Argentina coach Gerardo Martino said he did not think that controversy had played any role in Wednesday's result.

"No," Martino said. “I wouldn’t put so much emphasis on that. Every country has its own particular style of celebrating."





(Reporting By Erik Kirschbaum, editing by Toby Davis)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world