“Up on the young Rhine, Liechtenstein is leaning.” The rhyme in the Principality’s hymn did not arouse suspicion on Thursday evening in the Wolfsburg arena. The fact that the associated melody is mainly known from elsewhere could, however, be seen as a small, mean punchline. “God Save The Queen” was the acoustic bond that linked Joachim Löw’s departure as national coach in the European Championship round of 16 against England in London and his farewell on this cool November evening.
Löw, however, is likely to have warmed up more at the “Jogi, Jogi” calls that could be heard – that hadn’t happened in a German stadium for a long time. In honor of the world champion trainer from 2014, a number of old companions had come, who stood with a trellis when Löw entered the field shortly before the hymns: Klose, Hummels, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Mertesacker, Schürrle, Gomez, Höwedes, Draxler, Bierhoff – names, with which are connected to a golden summer and many other wonderful memories.
Löw had to “process a lot”
It was not surprising that the years after 2017 were excluded from the recorded video clips, but Löw once again referred to the failure at his last tournament in the summer. It took him a while to gain some distance and “had to process a lot,” he said at the RTL microphone: “I’m gradually feeling that I’m fine again.” And a comeback is quite conceivable for him: “ After such a long time, it took me half a year or maybe a year to gain some distance and to orientate myself. The desire gradually comes back and the motivation. “
Löw and the German audience could have fun at the game, even if it started with a moment of shock. Hofer’s kick in Goretzka’s chest and neck after eight minutes bordered on physical injury and was rightly punished with a penalty and a red card – Hofer tried very hard to show remorse for his faux pas when he snuck off the field at Goretzka’s side. After that, the Germans had an easy game, led by Gündogan’s penalty (11th, penalty) and three more within four minutes by Kaufmann (20th, own goal), Sané (22nd) and Reus (23rd) quickly 4-0 and increased after the break by Sané (49th), Müller (76th, 86th)), Baku (80th) and an own goal to 9: 0.
In football terms, the failure of the quarantine quintet was so easy to get over Süle, which tested positive for the corona virus on Monday. Nonetheless, this was also part of the disparate overall picture of an evening in which around 26,000 spectators gathered in the stadium in Wolfsburg, the jitters celebrated in the Rhineland, and in Berlin, in view of the number of infections, the Robert Koch Institute urgently recommended that larger events be canceled or avoided.
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