Loew looking for young answers

BERLIN: Germany complete their preparations for the start of their World Cup title defence with a home friendly against Finland tomorrow before beginning qualifying for Russia 2018 in Norway on Sunday.

The Finland game in Moenchengladbach is to serve as a farewell match for longserving midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who is to step down as captain and retire from the national team after 120 appearances.

“This will be a special evening for me,” the 32-year-old Schweinsteiger said.

Coach Joachim Loew has not yet announced who will replace Schweinsteiger as captain but keeper Manuel Neuer, midfielders Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos and Mesut Oezil, and forward Thomas Mueller are all hugely experienced players with more than 60 caps to their names.

Another veteran, Lukas Podolski, was also supposed to saying farewell against Finland but injury means this will happen later.

As older players step away from the squad, Loew faces the challenge of bringing in fresh blood to the team which defeated Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final but stumbled against hosts France in the Euro 2016 semis.

Youngsters Max Meyer of Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen’s Julian Brandt and Niklas Suele of Hoffenheim have all been called up after winning silver medals with Germany at the recent Rio Olympics.

It is defender Suele’s first appearance in the senior squad.

“(Meyer) and (Brandt) have played for the national team before and we would like to get to know Niklas Suele better,” Loew said. “These three players have earned their call ups with their excellent performances.

“I think they consider the call up as a motivation and an incentive to carry on delivering good performances. We hope that players like this continue to develop as they have a lot of potential.

“The door to the national team is open. I’m sure that over the next few months more players will get a chance.”

After facing Finland, Loew takes his team to Oslo to open their World Cup qualifying campaign.

The Czech Republic and Northern Ireland could also provide a test with underdogs San Marino and Azerbaijan completing Group C.

“Our goal is to build a team who will be able to win the World Cup in Russia,” Loew said. “We have a lot of experienced players in our squad who provide the framework.”