Hamburg - Germany coach Joachim Loew has said national team captain Michael Ballack knows "the consequences" should he again express criticism regarding the national team in public. It follows a television interview by Ballack Tuesday in which the Chelsea midfielder said he did not regret a newspaper interview last month which led to him having to apologize to an angry Loew.
Loew told Wednesday's Bild newspaper: "Michael has a right to give his opinion and to express criticism. But he won't be doing it in public, you can be quite sure of that because he knows what the consequences are."
Former German playing great Franz Beckenbauer told Wednesday's Bild he was "speechless" about the latest Ballack interview. "I thought all this had been dealt with," he said.
In the interview with Premiere pay television broadcast Tuesday, Ballack said he did not regret last month's interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung which had led to him being summoned to Germany by Loew.
"No, because I was merely giving my opinion in a reasonable tone," he said.
"I wasn't attacking anybody either, that was not what I wanted to do at all.
"Sometimes you have to go public deliberately in order to shake things up. There were a few irritations during and after the European Championships.
Ballack said there was nothing wrong in having a different opinion in football at times and it was sometimes necessary to speak out. "You can't discuss everything internally," he said.
Beckenbauer told Premiere Tuesday evening that Ballack seemed to be deeply frustrated at missing out on the European Championship title as well as some issues within the German team camp.
Ballack, 32, had been critical in the newspaper interview of Loew's decision to drop veteran fellow-midfielder Torsten Frings, saying it lacked respect for long-time Germany players.
Loew ordered Ballack to apologize during a meeting four weeks ago. As a result, Ballack remained on the team and stays its captain.
Ballack's latest statement came a week after Loew addressed the entire squad to lay down some guidelines on player behaviour after several conflicts and the public complaints from Ballack and Frings.
