Loew lauds German strength after fightback
Joachim Loew hailed Germany's spirit after they came from behind to
defeat Uruguay 3-2 in a thrilling game on Saturday and secure third
place at the World Cup.
"In the second half, when we were forced to dig deep, we saw the
mental strength the team had to resist and then snatch victory," said
the Germany coach.
"I'm pleased with that, the team deserves it. Altogether, what we've
achieved, we never would have expected it eight or nine months ago."
Germany claimed victory thanks to Sami Khedira's 82nd-minute header,
after strikes from Edinson Cavani and Diego Forlan had seen Uruguay hit
back from a goal down following Thomas Mueller's opener.
The three-time champions were hit by a series of injuries to key
players, including captain Michael Ballack, on the eve of the World Cup
but responded with some thrilling performances despite the inexperience
in their ranks.
Loew's young players defeated England 4-1 in the last 16 and thrashed
Argentina 4-0 in the quarter-finals before finally meeting their match
in a 1-0 semi-final defeat by Spain.
Central midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger was one of the stars of the
tournament and he believes the country has a rich footballing future to
look forward to. "I'm very proud to play in this team," said the Bayern
Munich player.
"We have to look to the future, we can still achieve lots of things."
Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez lauded his side's performance at the World
Cup but said they had been undone by individual errors against Germany.
The meeting in Port Elizabeth was a re-match of the 1970 third-place
match, which Germany won 1-0, after Tabarez had guided his team to the
World Cup semi-finals for the first time in 40 years. "The match was
contested by two teams who really wanted to finish in third place, by
two teams who gave everything," said Tabarez.
"We made one mistake too many, but we showed that we were capable. We
showed that we could compete with any team in the world."
PORT ELIZABETH, AFP |