Hamburg - Forward Lukas Popolski faces grave consequences if he misbehaves in the Germany jersey again, coach Joachim Loew said in a newspaper interview published on Thursday.

Loew told the Badische Zeitung daily that Podolski "lost a lot of sympathy" when he slapped captain Michael Ballack in the face during a heated argument between the two in the second half of last week's World Cup qualifier in Cardiff against wales.

The Bayern Munich striker Podolski apologized for the incident later but Loew said he was running out of patience with the player.

"He has no more credit with us. Another mistake of this kind would surely lead to far-reaching consequences," Loew said.

Loew did not name possible sanctions, but Podolski could be axed from the team for a certain period or possibly even the 2010 World Cup squad in the case of another incident.

In the interview, Loew also dismissed interest from veteran goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in returning to the team, saying it would send the wrong signal to the current men fighting for the number one place between the posts, Robert Enke, Rene Adler, Tim Wiese and Manuel Neuer. (dpa)