TENERO, Switzerland, - Germany arrived at their Swiss base camp for Euro 2008 on Tuesday with no real injury worries although there were still a few doubts over the starting lineup for their first game against Poland.

The Group B favourites were welcomed at Lugano airport by 100 schoolchildren in German colours but coach Joachim Loew was in the mood to get straight to work as he scheduled a training session for the first afternoon.

After unconvincing performances in recent friendlies - a 2-2 draw with Belarus and a 2-1 win over Serbia - Loew has yet to decide on his team to face Poland in Klagenfurt on Sunday.

'We haven't had the last word on who'll be playing,' Loew said after the Serbia game. 'The sessions we have in Switzerland will have a big say. There are still questions to answer.'

Loew's concerns will focus on centre-back Christoph Metzelder, who is fit again after a serious foot injury but has yet to show he has recaptured his best form.

The other strong candidate to partner Per Mertesacker at the back is Arne Friedrich.

Loew is considering playing striker Lukas Podolski as a midfielder to help make up for the loss of Bernd Schneider, who was ruled out by a back injury before the tournament.

That could see Bastian Schweinsteiger switch to the right side of midfield in what would be a risky reshuffle.

There is another question mark over who will play alongside Miroslav Klose up front, with Mario Gomez and Kevin Kuranyi the two options.

Oliver Neuville, who came off the bench to score a late winner against Poland when the sides met in the group stage at the 2006 World Cup, should again be among the substitutes.

Germany will go on to play Croatia and co-hosts Austria in their remaining Group B games.




0 komentar:


soccer news blogs, picture,Videos,Last football news @ 2007-2008 | Template by Abdul Munir | Blog - Layout4all