Recife, Brazil: Germany coach Joachim Loew was satisfied and relieved with his team’s 1-0 win over the United States on Thursday which clinched top spot in World Cup Group G and booked a last-16 berth.
Loew pointed out, however, that Germany still had plenty of room to improve, especially in their far-from-satisfying finishing which needs to be sharper when the World Cup enters the business end.
“There is always something to tweak, always something we can improve,” Loew told reporters. “The organisation and the aggressiveness was better than in previous matches.
“I would have liked the team to be a bit more active, even though [the United States] were defending very deep against us.” Loew, who was seen flailing his arms and shouting angrily in stoppage time, said he was alarmed about carelessness in the closing stages when Germany missed a chance to double their lead and lost possession in midfield.
“We lost the ball at the end of the match unnecessarily and that’s really dangerous — other teams take advantage of that,” said Loew, assistant to US manager Juergen Klinsmann when he was Germany coach from 2004 to 2006 and a close friend of his.
“We had actually set out to avoid that kind of thing,” he said when asked what had upset him. “We could have had two or three more goals if we had played with a bit more finishing concentration.” Loew made two key changes to his midfield, replacing Sami Khedira with Bastian Schweinsteiger for the first time in Brazil and inserting the more experienced Lukas Podolski in place of Mario Goetze.
“I think we were dominant in midfield,” said Loew, sounding pleased that his team kept a clean sheet against the United States who had scored twice in each of their opening games two against Ghana and Portugal.
“We put a lot of pressure on them and didn’t allow them to come through. We did not leave them many chances to score. Schweinsteiger left a good impression on me. He had energy, he had a good match.” Loew and Klinsmann had avoided all contact in the run-up to the World Cup but after the final whistle they revived their friendship dating back to a German coaching academy they attended together 14 years ago.
“I asked him about the result [of the Portugal-Ghana match] and he told me [the US] had also advanced to the next round,” said Loew.
“I told him I’m happy for him. It wasn’t easy or clear that was to be expected.
“The United States were the underdogs and Juergen did it,” he added. “I’m really happy for the leap forward they’ve taken. They’ve got a lot of quality, a lot of fight and they can run and run.
“If you’ve got a team that beats Ghana and draws against Portugal, I think you deserve to get to the last 16,” he said. Meanwhile, United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann saluted his team’s advance to the World Cup second round after a 1-0 defeat to Germany saw the Americans into the last 16 here Thursday.
The Americans were written off as contenders to qualify from Group G, which also contained Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and African giants Ghana.
But a win over Ghana and a draw with Portugal meant they defied the odds to reach the next round on goal difference.
“It’s huge getting out of this group,” said Klinsmann.
“Everybody said ‘You have no chance’ but we took our chance and now we move on and we really want to prove a point.”
The former Germany coach praised the contribution of goalkeeper Tim Howard, a towering presence at the back for most of the game who was beaten only by a superb Thomas Mueller long-range strike.
“Tim is one of our big shots. He’s our leader, he keeps everyone together and obviously we need him right now,” Klinsmann said of the Everton stopper.
“In a World Cup if you want to go far you need one of the best goalkeepers in the world — and we have one.”
Germany will now play the winner of Group H in the last 16, expected to be Belgium, in Salvador next Tuesday.
But Klinsmann said he believed his team could raise their game again.
“We can still do better. We got through the group but we can do better in the round of 16 and we will do better,” he said.
Goalkeeper Howard meanwhile tipped Germany to be one of the contenders for the title.
“Hats off to Germany — I think they have an opportunity to win the World Cup, that’s how good I think they are,” Howard said.
