…the current situation: We’ve had a long break and haven’t been together for a while. It’s an unfamiliar situation for us after failed to win a couple of games. That means that we have to win our next few European qualifiers as we have a tough autumn with games in Ireland and Scotland, as well as playing Poland at home. We want to gain momentum from the game against Australia to take into the game in Georgia.
…the expectations as world champions: The team can’t just turn up expecting to win. You have to have patience after such a long break but we need to get results.
Bastian Schweinsteiger on…
…his debut as official captain: Things haven’t really changed. I’m a player who thinks that there has to be eleven captains on the pitch in order to succeed. That’s always been the case in the titles that I’ve won.
…the personnel changes since the World Cup: There have been retirements (Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose and Per Mertesacker) that you have to accept. We have a new team now and you need all the players to come together. We have a team that doesn’t just have a lot of quality but also a lot of character.
…Germany’s chances of improvement: We know we have to pick up points in our qualifiers. We’ll have to keep an eye on both attacking and defending. We had good chances in our matches that we didn’t take. Our opponents also had chances and scored from them – Poland are a good example of that. There are teams in the group who want to frustrate us but we want to show that we are world champions.
…the future of the national team: This team isn’t at the end of its journey yet. There’s still more to come.
…opponents Australia: Australia aren’t an easy side to play against. They will try to frustrate us and they’ll have confidence after winning the Asian Cup.
Germany manager Joachim Löw will be without World Goalkeeper of the Year Manuel Neuer for his side’s opening game of 2015 on Wednesday (20:30 CET) against Asian champions Australia in Kaiserslautern. It’s likely that returnees Holger Badstuber and Ilkay Gündogan will both start the game, with Bastian Schweinsteiger also making a return to the side. The captain spoke for the first time since the World Cup triumph and DFB.de got all the important statements from the press conference.
Joachim Löw on…
…Manuel Neuer’s absence against Australia: Manuel Neuer won’t play against Australia as he has swelling on his knee. We don’t want to take any risks and there won’t be any problem for the game on Sunday against Georgia (18:00 CEST) if we’re cautious now. We haven’t decided how we’ll solve the issue in Kaiserslautern and I’ll need to sit down with Andreas Köpke (goalkeeping coach).
…the formation against Australia: I’m not 100% sure yet as to how we’ll play. I’ll wait and see after the final training session today and I’ll have a chat to the players that played on Sunday. We want to ensure that everyone is ready both physically and mentally for Sunday. Both Holger Badstuber and Ilkay Gündogan will probably play against Australia and I envisage that they will both start.
…the return of captain Bastian Schweinsteiger: It’s important that the captain is back on board. Bastian is in good form and has taken on a leading role at FC Bayern. It’s important for the team to have such a leader on the pitch.
…his decision not to call up Mario Gomez: We always keep an eye on him. If Mario finds his rhythm and is playing and scoring regularly then he’ll obviously be an option looking ahead to the Euros. He has a lot of quality in the box. It’s important that he’s flexible. We have different types of players. Every position has to be filled no matter what type of player is playing.
…upcoming talent: Players such as Emre Can, Max Meyer, Leon Goretzka and Kevin Volland have an agreement with Horst Hrubesch and they should play at the Under-21 Euros in June. I would prefer that they play at a high level tournament in the summer as I believe it will bring the players on, which is what we saw after the 2009 Under-21 Euros with Sami Khedira, Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, Mesut Özil and Benedikt Höwedes. It’s already an aim to integrate those players in the squad next season.
…the general personnel situation: It’s a different situation to the World Cup on a personnel level. Players such as Schweinsteiger, Reus, Gündogan and Badstuber are all back. We have more options that immediately after the World Cup.
…opponents Australia: It shows how strong Australia are that they beat teams like Japan and South Korea at the Asian Cup. It’ll be a good test for us as they never give up and they play a similar way to Ireland and Scotland. They had their own style but since 2010 they have changed the way they play. They played in a British style in 2010 but now they try to play out from the back.
…the current situation: We’ve had a long break and haven’t been together for a while. It’s an unfamiliar situation for us after failed to win a couple of games. That means that we have to win our next few European qualifiers as we have a tough autumn with games in Ireland and Scotland, as well as playing Poland at home. We want to gain momentum from the game against Australia to take into the game in Georgia.
…the expectations as world champions: The team can’t just turn up expecting to win. You have to have patience after such a long break but we need to get results.
Bastian Schweinsteiger on…
…his debut as official captain: Things haven’t really changed. I’m a player who thinks that there has to be eleven captains on the pitch in order to succeed. That’s always been the case in the titles that I’ve won.
…the personnel changes since the World Cup: There have been retirements (Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose and Per Mertesacker) that you have to accept. We have a new team now and you need all the players to come together. We have a team that doesn’t just have a lot of quality but also a lot of character.
…Germany’s chances of improvement: We know we have to pick up points in our qualifiers. We’ll have to keep an eye on both attacking and defending. We had good chances in our matches that we didn’t take. Our opponents also had chances and scored from them – Poland are a good example of that. There are teams in the group who want to frustrate us but we want to show that we are world champions.
…the future of the national team: This team isn’t at the end of its journey yet. There’s still more to come.
…opponents Australia: Australia aren’t an easy side to play against. They will try to frustrate us and they’ll have confidence after winning the Asian Cup.
