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The president of the German Football Association said before the defending champions' World Cup elimination that the federation would not be sacking coach Joachim Low -- who later said he would wait before deciding his next step. Germany fell 2-0 to South Korea despite needing just a win to go through after Sweden thrashed Mexico 3-0 in the other Group F game. Instead, Germany were eliminated in the group stage of a World Cup for the first time. However, DFB president Reinhard Grindel told media before the match that Low's job was safe regardless of Wednesday's outcome. "We decided in the DFB executive committee before the World Cup to offer a contract extension," Grindel said. "We believe there will be a transition that will take place after the World Cup, regardless of the outcome of the tournament, and no one is better equipped to handle that than Jogi Low. "He proved a year ago at the Confederations Cup that he can make young players into an impressive team who play outstanding football. That is still valid, as far as we are concerned." Low, who signed a contract extension through to 2022 before the World Cup, and he said after the game that he would take some time to consider his future. "This is hard to say at this point, it'll take a couple of hours," Low said when asked if he would be staying on. "I'm shocked that we didn't manage to pull it off. I really had the feeling that the team, they really wanted to go forward. I'm incredibly disappointed by this elimination but I will think about it calmly."
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Low's side lost their opening game 1-0 to Mexico before keeping their hopes of progress alive with a dramatic late 2-1 win over Sweden, but they were eliminated with the defeat to South Korea. Germany general manager Oliver Bierhoff said after the game he expected Low to stay on in his current role as coach. "It's just very frustrating and a big disappointment," Bierhoff told reporters. "In the end, it was not enough. We must accept it. Now is not the time to go into the analysis of what went wrong. I strongly believe that Jogi will continue."
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