Löw questions passing decisions, Can calls upon team to be more serene following draw
Another day. Another draw. This time Joachim Löw's Nationalmannschaft took the lead three separate times, only to relinquish it every instance. Coach and players expressed their discontent following Wednesday's 3-3 draw with Turkey.
"I brought it up last time, I brought it up before the game," German Bundestrainer Joachim Löw told reporters after the full-time whistle in Köln on Wednesday, "This is a problem that follows us everywhere."
Emphasizing the importance of maintaining evidently didn't help the team avoid the same problem that plagued them in September. Four minutes into injury time, Fortuna Düsseldorf's Kenan Karaman put home yet another equalizer for the Turks. Löw's men lost their third lead of the night.
"Of course one is disappointed and pissed," Löw noted, "the goalscorer was left totally unmarked in the penalty area. That must absolutely not happen in this situation."
Löw made no excuses for the performance. The second equalizer came after Efecan Karaca dispossessed Florian Neuhaus in a rough fashion that should have been whistled down. Anticipating a foul, the Germans stopped playing. "It was obviously a foul," Löw noted, "but one has to ask if he should have been played that ball in the first place."
Jonathan Tah played the ball to an exposed Neuhaus in that particular situation. In another example of what Löw considered to be poor passing decisions made by his team, Löw referenced Nico Schulz's ball to Julian Draxler in the lead up to the first Turkish goal. "If your [teammate] is already under pressure, you have to come up with better solutions."
Emré Can also challenged his teammates after the draw. "We definitely need to be more serene, more adult, perhaps even a more grungy when going for the second ball," Can remarked after the match.