Low has apologised for his “unconscious” scratch-and-sniff moment.
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“Robert Lewandowski in every single match is incredibly important for our gameplan”, said Nawalka.
“Most of all I am satisfied with the defence”, said Loew, who recalled Mats Hummels alongside Boateng after a month out with injury. While respecting the quality of Germany, we can still control the game.
“Poland’s greatest strength is that they’re a well-organized team and that they wait and lurk to play on counterattacks”.
There is certainly something special about this fixture.
While Nawalka acknowledged the difficulty of facing “one of the best teams in the world”, his counterpart paid tribute to a side that has made huge progress in recent years. It means they ask a lot of themselves and there’s more to come. “We know each other well and that helped, but I think the whole team has worked very well defensively”.
Piszczek was quoted this week as saying that he will have no friends in the German squad on Thursday, while Lewandowski quipped that, after failing to score against Northern Ireland, he had saved all his goals for Germany.
However, midfielder Sami Khedira insisted the German players’ thoughts remained with the families of those killed on that night rather than any fears for their own safety. If they do, the feel-good factor that has surrounded Germany’s tournament so far may quickly evaporate.
“The first match was a historic win over Germany, it was very important for us in terms of building our side”.
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Germany face Poland in Paris on early Friday morning (local time) and will hope to build on their opening game victory without being distracted by the negative spotlight on their manager.
