Only one coach due to attend the Qatar World Cup can claim to have got his mitts on arguably the game’s most coveted prize; France boss Didier Deschamps.
It was the former Juventus manager who masterminded Les Bleus success in Russia four years ago, melding a solid defensive structure with an exhilarating attack spearheaded by the still-teenage Kylian Mbappe. Whether Deschamps can become the first coach in history to lift back-to-back World Cups, however, remains to be seen.
Germany’s dismal 2018 campaign under Joachim Low should serve as a warning to France; that travesty of a tournament the beginning of the end for one of the modern game’s most successful and iconic international tacticians.
Where is Germany’s World Cup-winning manager Joachim Low now?
It’s easy to forget that, before Low took over from Jurgen Klinsmann in 2006, he was a virtual unknown to the wider footballing audience.
Yes, he had three trophies to his name at club level. But some silverware in Austria – and even a DFB Pokal triumph with Stuttgart in 1997 – certainly had the feeling of humble beginnings for a man who would go on to conquer the world alongside Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Jerome Boateng and co, while playing some of the most free-flowing and enthralling football seen at international level this side of the Century.
But where is Joachim Low now; eight years on from Mario Gotze’s winner in Brazil? Well, after that shock group-stage exit in Russia, and an another underwhelming campaign three years later in the European championships, Germany felt the time was right to move on from the suave 62-year-old and his Brian Cox haircut. Hansi Flick, he of treble-winning, Bayern Munich fame, is now Germany’s man for the big occasion.
“I don’t have the feeling I had seven years ago, when he won the World Cup,” said German legend Lothar Matthaus; adding to the criticism after Germany were sent packing by England at Wembley in 2021.
“I was missing the connection between himself on the bench and the players on the field. He changed so many things.”
Linked with Newcastle United and Stuttgart
Low has been out of work now for well over a year. That is not to say his managerial is over and done, however. He was surprisingly linked with the Newcastle United job following Steve Bruce’s sacking a year ago. According to BILD, he recently turned down an advisory role at Bundesliga outfit Stuttgart, too. Low reportedly harbours hopes of still making an impact as a coach.
Sami Khedira, part of Low’s 2014 World Cup winning squad, took on that Stuttgart role instead.
So, for the first time since Euro 2004, we are about to go into an international tournament without Joachim Low on the sidelines. The question is; after nearly 20 years out of the club game, what is the next chapter in Low’s story?
