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DPA
Tallinn
Injuries, illness, unfortunately placed tables and social media drama loomed large for Germany this international break but at the end only one thing matters - Joachim Loew’s men are a step closer to Euro 2020.
A 3-0 win in Estonia on Sunday, following a 2-2 friendly draw with Argentina, has kept Germany on course to reach the multi-venue European Championships.
The Netherlands lead Group C by head-to-head from Germany with both teams on 15 points. Northern Ireland are three behind but host the Dutch then finish in Germany meaning both qualifying spots remain up for grabs.
Germany next host Belarus on November 16 while the Netherlands conclude against Estonia three days later.
“The situation is unchanged,” Loew said before the squad headed home from Tallinn on Monday.
“We want to and will win both the last games. We will qualify for the Euros.”
That is a satisfactory outcome from a spell which started in tricky fashion only for more and more problems to pile on.
“It was a difficult week because there were always call offs,” Loew said. “We had to constantly improvise and didn’t have so much time for training sessions.”
Loew was missing more than a dozen players for Argentina, including Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos, and the unfortunate Niklas Stark typified a break where virtually anything that could go wrong did so.
The Hertha Berlin defender missed a potential debut in Dortmund with illness and then cut his leg on the edge of a table in the team hotel before the departure for Estonia. He was sent home requiring stitches.
On the pitch, Emre Can deputized at centre back against Estonia but lasted only 14 minutes before seeing red for a last-man challenge.
Germany laboured in the first half but improved after the break to find a way to win.
“It was harder than we imagined,” said Loew. “Of course that we heavily to do with us having a player less on the park early on.”
Can had already been in the headlines for ‘liking’ an online picture showing Turkish players saluting as a goal celebration which he later withdrew.
The Instagram picture showed Turkey players making a military salute after Cenk Tosun’s winning goal in a match with Albania on Friday.
The Turkish football federation commented on the picture saying: “The player have given this goal with a military salute to the soldiers serving in Operation Peace Spring.”
A Turkish military operation directed against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria started this week.
Ilkay Guendogan also retracted a like for the post but had a better response on the pitch. He scored two deflected goals and set up the third for Timo Werner.
He also stressed there was no political aspect to the action and received backing from Loew and German federation director Oliver Bierhoff.
“I don’t see it so critically after the statements of the players,” said Bierhoff. It was time to “simply show a bit of trust and not make a story out of it.” There is little over a month until the Belarus game in Moenchengladbach and while Loew is confident of qualifying, he knows there is limited time to mould his side into challengers before next summer.
“Now we have to see who will come back in November,” the coach said.
“We have given some young players a chance. There are already good findings for me.”
Tallinn
Injuries, illness, unfortunately placed tables and social media drama loomed large for Germany this international break but at the end only one thing matters - Joachim Loew’s men are a step closer to Euro 2020.
A 3-0 win in Estonia on Sunday, following a 2-2 friendly draw with Argentina, has kept Germany on course to reach the multi-venue European Championships.
The Netherlands lead Group C by head-to-head from Germany with both teams on 15 points. Northern Ireland are three behind but host the Dutch then finish in Germany meaning both qualifying spots remain up for grabs.
Germany next host Belarus on November 16 while the Netherlands conclude against Estonia three days later.
“The situation is unchanged,” Loew said before the squad headed home from Tallinn on Monday.
“We want to and will win both the last games. We will qualify for the Euros.”
That is a satisfactory outcome from a spell which started in tricky fashion only for more and more problems to pile on.
“It was a difficult week because there were always call offs,” Loew said. “We had to constantly improvise and didn’t have so much time for training sessions.”
Loew was missing more than a dozen players for Argentina, including Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos, and the unfortunate Niklas Stark typified a break where virtually anything that could go wrong did so.
The Hertha Berlin defender missed a potential debut in Dortmund with illness and then cut his leg on the edge of a table in the team hotel before the departure for Estonia. He was sent home requiring stitches.
On the pitch, Emre Can deputized at centre back against Estonia but lasted only 14 minutes before seeing red for a last-man challenge.
Germany laboured in the first half but improved after the break to find a way to win.
“It was harder than we imagined,” said Loew. “Of course that we heavily to do with us having a player less on the park early on.”
Can had already been in the headlines for ‘liking’ an online picture showing Turkish players saluting as a goal celebration which he later withdrew.
The Instagram picture showed Turkey players making a military salute after Cenk Tosun’s winning goal in a match with Albania on Friday.
The Turkish football federation commented on the picture saying: “The player have given this goal with a military salute to the soldiers serving in Operation Peace Spring.”
A Turkish military operation directed against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria started this week.
Ilkay Guendogan also retracted a like for the post but had a better response on the pitch. He scored two deflected goals and set up the third for Timo Werner.
He also stressed there was no political aspect to the action and received backing from Loew and German federation director Oliver Bierhoff.
“I don’t see it so critically after the statements of the players,” said Bierhoff. It was time to “simply show a bit of trust and not make a story out of it.” There is little over a month until the Belarus game in Moenchengladbach and while Loew is confident of qualifying, he knows there is limited time to mould his side into challengers before next summer.
“Now we have to see who will come back in November,” the coach said.
“We have given some young players a chance. There are already good findings for me.”
