Low made too many changes for Germany, says Ballack

Jun 29, 2012 7:57:00 PM

The former captain of Die Mannschaft has said a more "consistent" selection of players would have benefited the national side, who he believes could have gone further

Michael Ballack has criticised Germany coach Joachim Low's squad rotation policy following their exit from Euro 2012.

The starting XI of the semi-final against Italy contained three changes from die Mannschaft's quarter-final victory over Greece, with Mario Gomez, Lukas Podolski and Toni Kroos all reinstated after being left out for the last-eight clash, and youngsters Andre Schurrle, Marco Reus and veteran striker Miroslav Klose dropped to the bench.

Low admitted in an interview on Friday that he had his doubts about his team selection following his the 2-1 loss in Warsaw, and Ballack believes that a more "consistent" selection of players could have led to Germany success in Poland and Ukraine.

"The coach has made one or two changes too many," he said on ESPN, where he is working as a pundit.

"Having 18 or 20 class players is a luxurious problem, and it doesn't mean that you have to play them all. You have a group of 13, 14 or a maximum of 15 players which will contest the whole tournament.

"This team would have earned more if they had been consistent."

Germany, who have never beaten Italy in a major tournament, will face Argentina in a friendly in mid-August before starting their 2014 World Cup qualification campaign against Faroe Islands in September.

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