Low praises Germany character

22 June 2014 07:02

Germany coach Joachim Low praised his side's character after they almost came unstuck in their World Cup Group G clash against Ghana on Saturday evening.

Despite taking the lead through Mario Gotze, Germany fell 2-1 behind before Miroslav Klose rescued a point and put the Germans top of the group ahead of Sunday's clash between the United States and Portugal.

"We conceded two goals out of nothing, but the team showed morale and came back again," said Low, who admitted the game had taken a lot out of his players.

"They are incredibly exhausted. In the second half, it was an open exchange of blows at a crazy pace and the players gave every last ounce of energy that they had."

Fortunately for Low, he had a veteran goalscorer to come on and rescue a point which keeps Germany on course for a place in the last 16.

At the age of 36 and in his fourth World Cup, Lazio striker Klose showed the poaching qualities which have made him his country's all-time top goalscorer with 70, and now also the joint top goalscorer in World Cup final tournaments with 15 goals alongside Brazil's Ronaldo.

"Miro has been making such a fantastic impression these last few days," Low said to Germany's ARD television.

"Both he and (Bastian) Schweinsteiger did a lot of good to our game."

For the neutral spectator, Ghana's goals from Andre Ayew and then Asamoah Gyan also did the game a lot of good, but not for Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who never likes being beaten.

"We boosted Ghana with our own mistakes," said the Bayern Munich custodian. "That should never be happening to us at a World Cup.

"That's why we only got one point today. Ghana are not the best team tactically and if only we'd played the ball around better, we wouldn't have had any problems.

"The Portugal result (a 4-0 win for Germany) was too handsome, and now this has brought both our feet back down to earth."

Source: PA