FIFA World Cup 2018: A frustrating defeat, says Germany coach Joachim Low

Austria's David Alaba (right) and Germany's Joshua Kimmich battle for the ball during an international friendly match in Klagenfurt on Saturday. Pic/AFP

Germany coach Joachim Low knows there is still plenty for his reigning champions to work on ahead of the World Cup. Germany are not enjoying the best preparations for the defence of their trophy after their winless run was extended by a 2-1 defeat to Austria at the Worthersee Stadion in Klagenfurt on Saturday. Low's team have not won a game since October, drawing with England, France and Spain and losing to Brazil and now Austria since beating Azerbaijan.

Germany led early on through Mesut Ozil's strike but second-half goals from Martin Hinteregger and Alessandro Schopf turned the match on its head and gave Austria, who will not be at the World Cup in Russia later this month, a seventh successive victory.

Joachim Low

"It's a frustrating defeat because we didn't implement a lot of what we had talked about," Low told www.dfb.de. At the post-match press conference, he added: "I said a few moments ago that I am upset. I am not upset about the loss, not upset about losing the game, I am upset about the way we lost it. "It was our own fault, because after taking the lead we controlled the game, but right before the break and the first 15 to 20 minutes after the break we weren't in the game at all. We lost the ball unbelievably often, there were so many turnovers. "We are not used to that from our team. We let the Austrians get back in the game."

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