Khedira defends Loew and players over anthem

Germany midfielder Sami Khedira on Tuesday hit back against criticism of players, including himself, who do not sing their national anthem before matches. Khedira also gave his backing to under-fire head coach Joachim Loew, insisting that he had the players' complete support despite a backlash against his tactics following their 2-1 Euro 2012 semi-final defeat to Italy.
"It (criticism of Loew) is something that has been completed over-exaggerated," he told a press conference in Frankfurt, where Germany play Argentina in a friendly on Wednesday. "People tried to find the reasons for our defeat but we won the Euro under-21 championships with eight originally foreign players and no-one said anything, in fact the team were celebrated as heroes. "As the coach said yesterday (Monday), it is better to sing but it doesn't determine whether someone is a good German," said the 25-year-old Real Madrid player, who has a Tunisian father and German mother.