• World Cup

Loew blames Premier League for England failure

ESPN staff
July 4, 2014
Joachim Loew believes England have a disadvantage © Getty Images
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Germany boss Joachim Loew believes England's World Cup disaster was in part caused by the high percentage of foreign players in the Premier League.

Loew said, by contrast, Germany is benefiting from a lot of young players coming through into the Bundesliga.

England finished the World Cup officially 31st out of the 32 teams, having scored two goals and secured only one point in three matches from a goalless draw.

"Of course the English league has a disadvantage with a higher percentage of foreigners playing there and it becomes difficult for the national coach to get things moving," Loew said. "I think having many foreigners playing there is part of England's problem.

"Since 2009, things have changed for us and lots of young German players are coming through. We have a good blend, a strong league with three teams who are among the best in Europe with experience in tough competitions but I am not unhappy if some play in a foreign country and see other cultures and other coaches.

"Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira do for example and that can be of value and they can learn new things so I think it is valuable if the individual players go abroad."

Only around a third of Premier League players are English while 60% of the Bundesliga is German.

Germany beat France in their World Cup quarter-final clash on Friday to reach the last four for a record fourth consecutive time.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
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