This Germany team is Löw’s not Klinsmann’s, insists Müller

Ryland James 04:13 25/06/2014
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  • Lauding Low: Thomas Muller has hailed the current Germany coaching staff.

    The German side which confronts the United States in their final group game tomorrow is that of Joachim Low and not his pred­ecessor and now USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann, Germany striker Tho­mas Mueller has said.

    Klinsmann coached Germany, with Low as his assistant, at the 2006 World Cup finals hosted by Germany and guided them to the semi-finals before leaving the post.

    “We are playing against the United States, not Jurgen Klins­mann,” said Muller, who was given his Bayern Munich debut by the 49-year-old.

    “There are still a few play­ers from Klinsmann’s time, but under Joachim Low a new era has begun,” continued Muller, who scored a hat-trick in their opening 4-0 thumping of Portugal.

    “He has put his stamp on this team – and we want to show that against the USA.”

    A draw in Recife would see the Germans qualify as group winners with the United States finishing runners up – sending Ghana and Portugal out of the competition.

    Team manager Oliver Bierhoff, who worked with Klinsmann for two years, said their friendship will be forgotten for 90 minutes.

    “As Jurgen himself said, ‘It’s all about business’. We will cer­tainly greet him warmly before the game, but then focus solely on our job,” said Bierhoff, who helped Germany win Euro ‘96 with Klinsmann as captain.

    “We want to win. Everything else is uninteresting.”

    The fact a draw is of mutual ben­efit to both teams has draw com­parisons with the ‘Non-Aggression Pact of Gijon’, which took place nearly 32 years ago to the day.

    The scenario conjures up memo­ries of the notorious 1982 World Cup group match in Spain, between West Germany and Austria.

    Both teams qualified at the expense of Algeria after a 1-0 Ger­man win in which both sides went through the motions, but Bierhoff said any comparisons are ‘absurd’.

    “I know about this topic, but any­one who knows me – or takes one look at me – knows this is not an issue,” added Mueller, still sport­ing evidence of a deep face cut from Germany’s 2-2 draw with Ghana last Saturday.

    Low is expected to start with Bastian Schweinsteiger in the defensive midfield alongside cap­tain Philipp Lahm.

    Lukas Podolski could start on the left wing as an alternative to Mario Gotze, but Muller said they are tak­ing nothing for granted.

    “We have to be extremely care­ful. The tournament could be over quickly and then we’d be heading down the tubes,” said Muller.

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