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2nd September, 2010
BERLIN: After his bright, young squad finished third at the World Cup, the challenge facing Germany coach Joachim Loew now is to build on that momentum in their Euro 2012 qualification campaign.
Germany face Turkey, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Austria and Kazakhstan in Group A for a guranteed place at Euro 2012, which will be hosted by Ukraine and Poland.
Their first qualifying game is against Belgium in Brussels on Friday, before they take on Azerbaijan in Cologne four days later.
As usual, Germany are favourites to win their qualifying group, having also finished Euro 2008 as runners-up, and Hamburg defender Heiko Westermann says it is important to start with a strong performance against Belgium.
“There are no easy qualification groups any more,” he said.
“Obviously we’re the strong favourites to qualify for the European Championship and we want to make that clear right away by starting confidently.”
Loew has said he expects six points from his first two games and has decided to stay with Michael Ballack as Germany captain, once the Bayer Leverkusen star returns to fitness.
Michael Ballack turns 34 later this month and has been dropped for the first two games as he continues his recovery from the ankle injury that kept him out of the World Cup.
In his absence for the opening games against Belgium and Azerbaijan, Philipp Lahm, who captained Germany to third at World Cup in South Africa, will lead the side until Ballack returns to full fitness.
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will continue as Germany’s first-choice goalkeeper having proved himself in South Africa with Leverkusen’s Rene Adler and Werder Bremen’s Tim Wiese battling for second spot.
“We had a very successful World Cup and earned a lot of respect from other countries, but that is in the past now,” said Loew in a press conference in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
“We begin the new phase of qualifying for Euro 2012, which will be a marathon and it is important we focus on each opponent as we face them.
“We want to get off to a good start and six points are important.”
Die Mannschaft are in a rude state of health and only Euro 2008 semi-finalists Turkey and Belgium are likely to test them in their qualification group.
In South Africa, Loew’s young side came of age and players like Bayern Munich’s Thomas Mueller and Mesut Ozil cemented their reputations as top-class performers.
Mueller left South Africa with the award for the best young player and the Golden Boot for the tournament’s top scorer, while Ozil secured himself a multi-million euro move to Real Madrid.
Established players like midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and defender Arne Friedrich also came back from South Africa with reputations enhanced under Loew, who put his name to a new two-year contract just after the World Cup.
Loew says he expects a tough challenge from hosts Belgium on Friday.
“Belgium are in a new building phase,” he said with Belgium coach Georges Leekens likely to start with defenders Vincent Kompany from Manchester City and Bayern Munich’s Daniel Van Buyten.
“We will be facing a very motivated side and we are expecting a strong performance from them.”
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