Quote:
Originally Posted by GirlySports
Italians always give the Germans trouble though. It's sort of the German's boogie team.
In fact Germany (East or West or Unified) have never beaten Italy in a competitive match.
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And Spain had never won a competitive match against France either. A lot of those historical stats are irrelevant because so much about the sides has changed.
My real concern is Bastian Schweinsteiger. He is complaining that his ankle hasnt healed properly and is making uncharacteristically bad passes. Well, this is the guy that pulls the strings, so what do you do? Do you play him and hope Germany can get by with a 70% Schweinsteiger?
Do you do that when you have a guy like Gotze who can step into his role? They're not exactly the same, but they are similar enough. Then again, based on Gotze's playing time, how fit is he?
Germany could conceivably shuffle the entire formation to accommodate the loss of Schweinsteiger, have Khedira hold the back line on his own and just attack relentlessly through guys like Kroos and Schurrle. But I dont think Low is to keen on fielding such a one-sided lineup.