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Germany has a point to prove

Croatian coach confident of Luka Modric’s fitness

THE SCHEDULE
Croatia vs. Germany, 9.20 p.m.
Austria vs. Poland, 12.05 a.m. (Friday)

— PHOTO: AFP

IN GOOD NICK: German forward Lukas Podolski hopes to continue his good form against Croatia on Thursday.

TENERO (Switzerland): For Germany, Thursday’s Group B European championship game with Croatia in Klagenfurt is not just about qualifying for the quarterfinals, it is about proving it is a serious contender for its first title since 1996.

“We’ll see what our status is after the Croatia game,” captain Michael Ballack said at a news conference on Tuesday. “We know we’re going to have to raise our game to beat them.”

Germany, three times European champion, beat Poland 2-0 in its opening match but it sees Croatia, which overcame co-host Austria 1-0 in its first game, as a much more important scalp.

“They have high ambitions in this tournament — they beat England twice in qualifying — and I think they’ll play a much more offensive game than Poland did,” Ballack said.

If Germany does improve from the Poland game it should be too strong for a Croatia side which did not look overly impressive in its first win over the unfancied Austria.

Coach’s dilemma

Germany coach Joachim Loew has 23 fit players and his only real dilemma is whether to include Bastian Schweinsteiger from the start or again keep him up his sleeve for the second half.

Ballack thought his team had reached about “80-85 per cent” of its potential in the game against Poland and saw no great need to change anything.

“I don’t see that any changes are needed. But of course, it’s up to the coach — and it depends on the rival as well. Maybe we’ll change one or two positions,” he said.

One possible indication of the coach’s thinking came when team officials announced that Arne Friedrich would show up to meet reporters on the day before the match. Sometimes — but not always — this means the invitee could also end up playing.

Friedrich is a defender who can play centrally or on the right wing. The only German player who was had some weaknesses against Poland — and they were not many — was left defender Marcell Jansen. If Friedrich came in for Jansen, Philipp Lahm would move to the left, the side he likes less, and Friedrich would play right.

Winning combination

Then again, Loew may stick to the old wisdom of never changing a winning team. By starting Lukas Podolski in the left midfield instead of his usual position as striker, Loew pulled a master stroke. Podolski scored both goals and is likely to play in the same position again.

While Germany has never lost against Poland, it has mixed memories of playing Croatia in major tournaments.

Germany beat Croatia 2-1 in the last eight on its way to winning Euro 96 in England but suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat by it in the World Cup quarterfinals two years later.

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic, who played in both those games, was confident midfielder Luka Modric would recover from an ankle injury to boost its hopes of a place in the last eight. “This is a chance to move a step closer to the knockout stage and we will have a real go at them because we can match them in every department,” Bilic told newspersons.

Changes

The Croatia coach is likely to introduce one or two changes to the team that scraped past Austria.

“We will show no fear against Germany and if we play our best football I think we have a good chance of beating them,” said forward Ivan Rakitic, who could start instead of out-of-form striker Mladen Petric.

“That means we will have to play a lot better than we did against Austria, though.” — Agencies

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