Ballack and Loew to talk after public row

Germany captain Michael Ballack has agreed to a meeting with coach Joachim Loew in a first sign the public row between the two men may be cooling.

Loew reacted furiously to comments from Ballack, published earlier this week, claiming senior players were not being given enough respect in the national team.

The German Football Association said yesterday the two men had spoken by telephone the previous day, after Loew had made the initial contact, and arranged to meet in person "as soon as possible".

No details on when and where that meeting would take place were available, the DFB said.

Loew issued a statement on Wednesday describing the captain's comments in a newspaper interview as unacceptable.

The coach said Ballack would have to agree to meet him in person and that his future role in the team would depend on how the talks went.

Past and present Germany players have been giving their opinion on the spat, while the media have speculated on whether Loew would go as far as to drop Ballack for next month's friendly against England in Berlin.

Franz Beckenbauer, still the most influential voice in German football, urged Loew not to kick the Chelsea midfielder out.

"Ballack is the best player we have, and the only one who is world class," Beckenbauer said in his column in Bild newspaper yesterday.

"Also, in the last few years he has developed into a real captain. As a coach, you don't dispense with someone like that."