Euro 2016: Joachim Loew’s labour lost

World champions Germany flew home from Euro 2016 for a post mortem into how die Mannschaft missed the chance to add the European title after their 0-2 semifinal defeat to France.

Antoine Griezmann’s double strike in Marseille sealed France’s deserved victory to send them to Sunday’s final against Portugal and Germany home.

“France has earned the right to be in the final and I think that the French will win against Portugal,” said Germany coach Joachim Loew. “I think France are good, but we were better.”

Nevertheless, the scoreline contradicts Loew’s appraisal as the post-mortem begins back home as to what went wrong.

“France totally deserved to win,” ex-captain Michael Ballack told German daily Bild. Lothar Matthaeus, Germany’s most capped player, was critical of Loew for having again changed his system, “it creates uncertainty”.

Germany reverted to their standard 4-2-3-1 formation against France having played a back-three against Italy in the quarter-finals.

After the European Championships finals, Loew celebrates a decade in charge and under his stewardship they have reached at least the semi-finals of the last six major tournaments.

The 56-year-old has a German FA (DFB) contract until the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.

His bosses want to extend his deal, but Loew has left his future open and said he will consider his future in the light of their Euro 2016 post-mortem.

Germany were punished for some sloppy first-half finishing and failed to convert any of their 18 shots on goal, despite 68 per cent possession.

Ballack’s pre-tournament comment that Germany lack strong leadership may well return to trouble Loew.

On a positive note, after two years of experimenting, Loew finally seems to have found his ideal back four with Joshua Kimmich and Jonas Hector having nailed down the wing-back berths.

And in Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil, Germany are never short of creative play-makers who find holes in the opponents’ defence. But two years after Miroslav Klose retired, Germany still does not have a settled striker, a problem Loew must solve.

Germany’s next match is a friendly against Finland in Moechengladbach on August 31, to warm-up for their first World Cup qualifier against Norway in Oslo on September 4.