Bayern legend hits out at Germany: “If I were coach, Boateng and Müller would be on the national team”

Germany coach Joachim Low has gather a long list of detractors as of late, and the voices grow stronger with every game. Now, former Bayern Munich legend Bastian Schweinsteiger, hero of the 2014 world cup final, has spoken out against his former coach.

Following Die Mannschaft’s hectic 3-3 draw with Switzerland, der Fussballgott was rightfully peeved by the country’s poor performances (via kicker): “When the German national team is winless in the Nations League for six games, even the head coach cannot say that everything’s going great. There must be reasons for it that have to be named.”

Ever since the debacle at the 2018 world cup, Die Mannschaft have been limping from game to game with barely a win in sight — a far cry from the swashbuckling 2014 team that Schweinsteiger was a part of. Part of this is due to a controversial decision by the coach to ax three of the country’s best players from the setup.

Early in 2019, Low informed Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, and Thomas Muller that their national team careers were over. He has since refused to call up any of those players to international duty, despite their incredible accomplishments at the club level (and Germany’s awful results).

Asked about the axing of the superstars, Schweinstiger was as diplomatic as he could be to a former colleague: “If I were the national coach, Boateng and Müller would be on the national team. But I’m not the national coach. It’s Jogi’s decision, which must be respected.”

We won’t try to read anything more into Schweini’s statement outside of what he said, but the former world cup winner has joined a growing chorus of criticism against the Germany manager. With Boateng and especially Muller showing that they’re still more than capable at the top tier of professional football, it remains to be seen if Jogi buckles under popular pressure.

Knowing him however, it’s more likely that the awful performances will continue until the Euros, and Germany crash out of their group containing both France and Portugal. Maybe then the DFB will learn its lesson, and finally sack this man.