Farewell to ex-national coach Löw: He was the best for his time

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Joachim Löw: 15 years national coach

Photo: Philipp Guelland / dpa

In Wolfsburg against Liechtenstein.

With all due respect, that doesn't do him justice.

It would have to be against Argentina, against Brazil, France or Italy, against one of the great footballing nations against which Joachim Löw celebrated his triumphs or suffered his big defeats.

It should be San Siro or the Maracanã or Wembley or at least Dortmund or Munich.

Or Freiburg.

A framework that would be worthy of saying goodbye to Joachim Löw.

That’s how it will be in Liechtenstein tonight in Wolfsburg (8.45 p.m. / TV: RTL).

It has become a small stage that the DFB prepares for its 15-year-old national coach.

That fits in with his departure in summer.

A frugal round of 16 knockout at the EM against England, Germany quietly said goodbye to the tournament through the back door, Joachim Löw's resignation, announced months in advance, was little more than a completion notice.

In the end, only perceived as a stumbling block

Löw was at the DFB from 2004 to 2021, first as an assistant, then as head coach, what a margin, he got old about it, the boyish thing that had accompanied him for so many years had disappeared in the end.

Löw didn't seem burned out at the EM in the summer, you could tell that he wanted to make a difference again, to prove it to people.

His parting was supposed to be appropriate, but it remained at will.

Löw has always lived from his aura.

But now he had lost her.

When he left, most of the accolades sounded as if one had to dutifully praise his services: Joachim Löw has achieved great things.

And then came the but.

Even if that is a big word, there is a certain personal tragedy in the fact that Löw was only seen in public as an obstacle to development.

Although he himself was their engine and drove this team, also this association so many years after, also drove ahead of them.

Fresh air at last

Joachim Löw from 2004 to 2014 changed the national team, fundamentally, he changed football in Germany, you could say that too.

The fact that the DFB-Elf has meanwhile been perceived as a social impetus, as an affair of the heart, as a team that stood out from the sausage of the association, instead modern, multicultural, integrative, that is thanks to Löw's work.

It was the time when you liked to watch the national team.

Even those who otherwise have little or nothing associated with this team.

Loew had gotten rid of the stink, aired the room, tore open the window, and finally fresh air.

World Cup winner Löw 2014: His greatest triumph

Photo: AP / dpa

At the beginning of 2010 he seemed to have reached the end.

When the then DFB President Theo Zwanziger did not want to extend his contract and the national coach was so angry that he was close to throwing everything out.

In retrospect, this crash was the best that could have happened to German football.

After that, Löw was absolutely clear: Little can be expected from this association, so we're just doing our own thing with the national team.

The team's appearance in South Africa was the result: the best, the most exciting that this national team had to offer in the past few decades.

It was also the highlight of the distance between the national team and the DFB.

It was Löw's work, it was Löw's World Cup.

Much more so than the triumph of Rio four years later.

Brazil 2014 was only the completion of this development.

There are still people who claim that Germany won the world championship that year not because of, but despite Löw.

This is total bullshit.

He became an eccentric

It is one of the peculiarities that precisely in this path to success, the cornerstone of Löw's relegation was also laid.

That he was only described as raptured by most in the end, had its origin here.

Löw, the sole decision maker, Löw who knows best what to do - that was his recipe for success.

Stubbornness wasn't a blemish for him, it was his quality.

At some point she turned against him.

He was allowed and able to develop his quirks, his idiosyncrasies.

Most recently he was not only national coach, he had also become a bit of an eccentric.

His retreat in Freiburg became the Hermitage.

Anyone who has observed and accompanied him over the years could only see that at the press conferences.

One always liked to listen to Löw, however banal that might be, what he said.

He told it well.

Powerful, entertaining.

At some point, however, it tipped over, the Löw performances became compulsory, uninspired.

In the end you couldn't hear him anymore.

It was obviously different with his players: Löw held the most important job in German football for 15 years.

But to this day there is hardly a player who speaks badly of him.

And that in an industry in which defamation is widespread.

Even Michael Ballack, whom he sorted out with undreamt-of severity, made his peace with him at some point.

Löw has always remained human, despite all the pressure, inwardly, yes, very warm-hearted.

That alone is an achievement.

Between 2010 and 2014 Löw led this team to a climax, Özil, Götze, Klose, Neuer: The joy of playing that emanated from this team, especially in the years from 2010 to 2012, that was new, it had probably been since 1972, not given since Netzer, Beckenbauer and Müller.

The 4: 1 against England, the 4: 0 against Argentina, an explosion, an almost brutal destruction of the rumble football image, the 6: 2 against Austria in the European Championship qualification, the German team was the white ballet.

And Löw was a national coach as well as a ballet master.

Who was the best?

All the same

Hansi Flick said that Löw was the best national coach Germany has ever had.

That's very kind from the nice Mr. Flick.

But is Löw better than the kind-hearted Helmut Schön, who let the long-maned wild Gladbachers and Bavarians off the leash in 1972 and became world champion two years later?

Better than Beckenbauer, who in 1990 with Matthäus, Völler, Littbarski, Buchwald and Co. had the team that stormed the title with an irrepressible will to win?

Better than the boss, Sepp Herberger?

Who will judge that?

You don't have to judge that at all.

For a while, at least, Loew was the best this country could have.

Many have said that Löw should quit after the 2014 World Cup, at the height of his reputation.

Just like his clever captain Philipp Lahm did.

It would probably have been wise to look at him differently today.

But there would have been one more thing: comfortable.

To step down at the zenith is still recognized as an admirable achievement, as particularly honorable.

Just as Beckenbauer did in 1990 and at the same time gave the successor the heaviest possible backpack on its way.

In 2014 Löw thought about it for a long time, then decided to continue.

And thus for the far more uncomfortable way to defend a title, to keep a team at a level to which he has led them himself.

He failed, but he tried.

Joachim Löw has achieved great things.

No buts.