With France and Iceland, who face each other in the last quarter-final on Sunday, both possessing arguably weaker backlines than the Italians, Loew is widely expected to turn to his youngsters once more in Marseille on Thursday.
Advertisement
Germany did much more than that, crushing the hosts 7-1 in Belo Horizonte in an extraordinary semifinal, leaving millions of Brazilians in a state of shock.
But the world champions’ efficiency deserted them at crucial times.
“Sami Khedira won’t play for us on Thursday”. They are playing at home and have a lot of confidence.
Germany defender Mats Hummels has been suspended while Mario Gomez and Sami Khedira are out with injury.
Portugal have reached the semifinal without winning any of their five games inside 90 minutes or putting an a truly convincing performance.
He revealed that his decision to leave Italy after Euro 2016 was made last November after the team had qualified for the finals and once Chelsea approached him there was no looking back. After I saw the Spain game, that was my first thought.
He said: “I won’t play anyone who is not 100 per cent fit, but I hope Bastian Schweinsteiger is fit and can play”.
“I think France are slight favourites in this game”, Bierhoff told a news conference. But he has been in this situation before with Germany.
Mario Goetze could return for Gomez, or Thomas Mueller could move inside to lead the line despite his puzzling failure to score in 10 games over two European Championships.
Captain Bastian Schweinsteiger is doubtful for the game, nursing a knee ligament injury, but Bierhoff said the depth of Germany’s squad would compensate for the missing players.
“The point is, in 2014 Loew trusted the team and played the same formation from the quarter-finals and that’s how you win titles!”
Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Weigl or Liverpool’s Emre Can could step in if Schweinsteiger, whose season was disrupted by two serious injuries to the same knee, doesn’t recover in time.
Advertisement
Loew was clear that Joshua Kimmich, Germany’s 21-year-old hero in Bordeaux for converting one of the spot-kicks in the shoot-out marathon, will stay at right-back, even though he is a defensive midfielder.
