Germany not taking Scotland lightly ahead of Euro qualifier

Ronnie Esplin 03:10 07/09/2014
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  • Not an easy game: Germany's side is much different to the winning World Cup team.

    Joachim Low believes Scotland will be a danger to Germany in tonight’s European Championship qualifier in Dortmund because they are on form and “have nothing to lose”.

    The Scots go into the Group D opener against the world cham­pions at Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion with few giv­ing them a chance of taking anything from the game – even though the Germans will be much-changed due to retirement and injury. They also go into the match on the back of a 4-2 friendly defeat at home to Argentina.

    However, Germany boss Low talked up the Scots and noted that Gordon Strachan’s rejuvenated side have gone six games unbeaten.

    “Scotland have had no problems in their preparations,” he said.

    “They have a British mentality but they don’t play with a British style these days.

    “They try to play good football but are still very well organised.

    “They have quality players and have nothing to lose in this match so will play with no fear.

    “We know all about their team and their biggest strength is that they are a team.

    “They have good players like (Steven) Naismith, (Shaun) Maloney and (Ikechi) Anya.

    “Darren Fletcher is the best known player playing for Man­chester United. He is also the most experienced player.

    “They will be motivated, physical and they will run a lot and they are also very good in one-on-one.

    “They have won twice against Croatia and drew with USA and Nigeria and so we know they are a very good team. It will be a difficult match for us.”

    World Cup winners Miroslav Klose, Philipp Lahm and Per Mertesacker have retired from international duty while Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mesut Ozil, Mats Hummels, Sami Khedira and Julian Draxler are out injured.

    Those absences appeared to take their toll last Wednesday night when Germany capitulated against their World Cup final opponents in Dusseldorf. Low, who confirmed that defender Jerome Boateng will return after injury, played the defeat down, saying: “Yes, there were a few mistakes in defence in the Argentina game but we weren’t really that bad.

    “It was more about concentra­tion problems and at this level if you make mistakes you will be pun­ished. We have to close the space and concentrate over 90 minutes.”

    Despite the turnaround in cir­cumstances since his summer triumph in Rio, the German boss warned Scotland and the rest of the group that there will be no problem with self-motivation in this cam­paign.

    He said: “My motivation is there completely. Even on holiday I thought about things and analysed situations. It is an exciting job and you have to develop, other teams develop and you have to keep up.

    “The motivation from me is from the inside and if I thought I wouldn’t have the motivation then I would quit this job.”

    Scotland boss Strachan re­fused to be drawn about the potential for an upset given Ger­many’s absentees, saying: “Best time to play Germany? I just think for us it is a good time for us to play together. We are in a good place.

    “We are respectful of Germany, we understand how good they are, but we are happy with what we have been doing in the last year at least.

    “The players will know what is required from them.”

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