Eppan: Germany’s World Cup-winning coach Joachim Loew on Friday ruled himself out of the running to take over at Real Madrid after reports he has been approached to replace Zinedine Zidane.
“Of course I can completely rule that out now,” Loew told reporters at Germany’s World Cup training camp at Eppan, north Italy, after Spanish daily Marca claimed Real had already approached the 58-year-old German.
“Real Madrid will surely find a very, very good substitute for Zinedine Zidane.
“His resignation surprised me a little, but he is the best judge of whether the team has reached it’s peak (under him).
“If he feels now is the right time, then you have to respect that.”
Loew has only recently signed a contract extension with the German football federation (DFB), until the 2022 World Cup, and says he is fully focused on successfully defending the world title at Russia 2018.
Loew last coached at club level in 2004, when he was at Austrian Vienna, and under his stewardship Germany has reached at least the semi-finals of every international tournament since the 2006 World Cup.
Loew’s crowning moment was in holding aloft the 2014 World Cup trophy in Rio de Janeiro.
However, he underlined his status in Germany as a superstar coach by winning the Confederations Cup last year with an inexperienced squad after leaving all of his stars at home.
Germany’s Thomas Mueller and Mats Hummels will not travel with the world champions to Austria for their World Cup warm-up match on Saturday and get an extra day of rest, Loew said.
The Germans are facing Austria in Klagenfurt in their penultimate test ahead of this month’s World Cup. They also host Saudi Arabia on June 8 before leaving for Russia.
Mueller and Hummels will remain at their northern Italy training camp along with Bayern Munich teammate Jerome Boateng, working back towards full fitness following a muscle injury late in the season.
“Mueller had many games this season, Hummels had many games this season. We know what they can do so it is good for them to clear their head a bit this weekend,” Loew said.
Midfielder Toni Kroos will arrive in Italy on Saturday after a brief break following his Champions League victory with Real Madrid.
Loew said that fellow 2014 World Cup winners Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira, who suffered late-season injuries, would be on the pitch on Saturday to get much needed match practice.
Surprise addition Nils Petersen will also get playing time against Austria with Loew praising the Freiburg forward, who is battling for a spot in the squad along with fellow forwards Mario Gomez and Timo Werner.
“The impression I have of him has only been getting better,” Loew said of the versatile forward. “He is working really hard.” Loew has taken 27 players into his preliminary squad and will cut four of them, including one goalkeeper, on Monday for his final 23.
The Germans are in World Cup Group F with Sweden, South Korea and Mexico. The tournament starts on June 14.
“Not everything is working perfectly yet,” Loew said. “But at this stage that is normal. Everything has gone according to plan. We have no injuries after about 10 days and that is a good feeling to have at this point.”
—Agencies
