Löw on a high after home Under-17 success

A decade ago, when Joachim Löw was Karlsruher SC coach, on his staff was a 31-year-old called Marco Pezzaiuoli. On Monday Pezzaiuoli led Germany to the UEFA European Under-17 Championship title and watching on in the Stadion Magdeburg was Löw.

'Valuable experience'
Germany's senior coach was full of praise for his colleague after the comeback from a goal behind to win 2-1 after extra time in front of 24,000 fans. "The team battled hard until the final minute and the atmosphere was fantastic," Löw said. "It was plain to see that the players were very nervous in the first ten to 15 minutes, obviously that being down to the fact that they are not used to playing in front of more than 20,000 spectators. That is a valuable experience for every young player and of course the experience of winning is important too."

New stars
The winner was a stunning dead-ball strike from 30 metres out by Florian Trinks. "It was a perfect free-kick, he showed great composure and determination when striking the ball," said Löw, who saw plenty of prospects for the future of German football. "Overall I think it should be said that it was an excellent team display. Mario Götze has been in good form throughout the tournament, Christopher Buchtmann and Bienvenue Basala-Mazana also did well – they are all players that have a lot of ability but we will just have to wait and see how they develop."