Joachim Löw’s 14-year reign as Germany head coach is under threat after his side’s run of poor results continued on Tuesday as they had to come from two goals down to limp to a 3-3 draw against Switzerland in the Nations League.
Germany have drawn four of their last five games — surrendering the lead on three occasions — to leave them second in their Nations League group behind Spain.
They squeezed past Ukraine 2-1 with a full-strength side in Kiev on Saturday and after a 3-3 friendly home draw against Turkey last Wednesday, Löw’s side were once again guilty of poor defending.
The 60-year-old Löw has a German FA contract until the 2022 World Cup.
However, his popularity among German fans has plummeted, from the heights of winning the 2014 World Cup title, since Germany’s debacle at Russia 2018 finals when they failed to get out of their group.
The draw with the Swiss will only enhance the domestic criticism of Low from key names within German football such as Lothar Matthaeus and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Dinamo Zagreb striker Mario Gavranovic scored goals either side of a deft chip by Remo Freuler as all three Swiss goals came from German mistakes.
Germany fought back behind closed doors with goals by Timo Werner, his Chelsea team-mate Kai Havertz and Serge Gnabry.
Spain go down
In other games, Substitute Viktor Tsygankov’s strike gave Ukraine a surprise 1-0 win over goal-shy Spain in their clash in Kiev. The 22-year-old Dynamo Kiev player had not long been thrown into the fray by coach Andriy Shevchenko when he latched onto Andriy Yarmolenko’s superb through ball and fired past an exposed David de Gea in the 76th minute.
It was a shock result after Spain — who had not lost since November 2018 — won 4-0 when the sides met in Madrid just last month, and Ukraine are now only a point behind Luis Enrique’s team in League A, Group 4.
Elsewhere, San Marino are the perennial whipping boys of international football but on Tuesday they were able to celebrate claiming their first point in six years thanks to a 0-0 draw in Liechtenstein.
Goalkeeper Simone Benedettini was the hero for San Marino as he kept their first clean sheet since a goalless draw at home to Estonia in a European Championship qualifier in November 2014, and their first ever clean sheet away from home.