Loew queries his future ahead of Malta friendly

Germany start their World Cup preparations with a friendly against Malta today, but coach Joachim Loew has admitted he may walk away after next month's tournament in South Africa.

Having succeeded Jurgen Klinsmann as head coach after the 2006 World Cup, Loew's contract expires once Germany finish with South Africa 2010.

Contract negotiations between Loew and the German Football Federation (DFB) were surprisingly halted in February and put on hold until after the World Cup.

While both Loew and DFB president Theo Zwanziger have said they are keen to keep working together, the Germany coach has hinted he may walk away should his side flop at the World Cup.

"Anything is possible," Loew told the Hamburg magazine Stern.

"I must have a basic sense of trust in my work and if no such support is there, then it would be hard to continue working."

Loew says he will travel to South Africa without any fears for the future.

"Firstly, I can live with the situation very easily," Loew said.

"Secondly, if it should happen that I leave the DFB, it would be absolutely unthinkable for me to start coaching a club now."

Germany's top stars, minus the Bayern Munich players on Champions League duty, will gather at a training camp in Sicily on Monday when the real work for the World Cup begins in earnest and Loew has already set the bar high.

"Clearly, we want to reach the final," said Loew who guided his side to second place at Euro 2008.

"As we are European vice-champions and as losing a World Cup semi-final would be deemed a failure, we cannot set our targets below that."

After this weekend, Germany will hold two training camps, one in Sicily and one in the Italian Alps, and will face Hungary in their second warm-up game on May 29 in Budapest.

The Germans have drawn Australia, Ghana and Serbia in Group D and their first game is against Australia on June 13 in Durban.