Coach Loew wary of French firepower
Kroos and Khedira will start for World Cup-winners
France will have more firepower than England had in their goalless draw with Germany last week, Germany coach Joachim Loew said ahead of today’s international friendly against their neighbours.
The world champions are without a home win against the French in 30 years and Loew, whose experimental team drew 0-0 at Wembley against England in a friendly on Friday, warned his players that France was a “world-class strike force.”
“It will be different than against England,” Loew told reporters on yesterday.
“France have a lot of quality in attack. You can swap the players around and you’ll still have a world class attack.” France’s front line includes, among others, Kylian Mbappe, who moved to Paris St Germain this season in a deal worth 180 million euros, and Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud, who were both on target in their 2-0 win over Wales.
Improvement
Giroud will be absent from the game due to injury.
“They have some people out but they will be more dangerous than England were last Friday. We have to be prepared for
Select international friendlies
Korea Republic v Serbia, 3pm China v Colombia, 3.45pm UAE v Uzbekistan, 4.55pm Qatar v Iceland 8.30pm Argentina v Nigeria, 8.30pm Slovakia v Norway, 9.30pm Russia v Spain, 10.45pm Romania v Netherlands, 11pm Belgium v Japan. 11.45pm Germany v France, 11.45pm Wales v Panama, 11.45pm England v Brazil, midnight Portugal v USA, 12.45am that. We also need to improve our own finishing.” Loew said he would start with PSG keeper Kevin Trapp instead of MarcAndre ter Stegen. First choice keeper Manuel Neuer is missing through injury.
Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira will resume their World Cup-winning midfield partnership, Loew said.
“I want to try things out against France. This is the reason we have these international friendlies,” said the coach, who led Germany to the 2014 World Cup win.
“The result is not the most important thing. I can give some players a chance and rest some others.”
The Germans have played a flawless World Cup qualification, winning all 10 matches, and have yet to lose this year after also clinching the Confederations Cup in July. They will play Spain and Brazil in friendlies in March next year.