Podolski out, Boateng hurt
June 28, 2014
Löw told reporters in Germany's Santo Andre training camp on Saturday that Podolski would not be fit in time for the Algeria match, saying the Arsenal winger would have to rest for two or three days. He spoke about a sprain, but did not go into detail.
The Germany coach said it would be a "big risk" to play Podolski in the team's Monday match because it could worsen the injury. He would be available for later matches, "if we manage to advance," Löw said.
Defender Jerome Boateng has picked up another injury, this time suffering a left knee strain. Löw described the injury as "nothing serious," but the team's nominal right back nonetheless is considered questionable to start. He was only able to train individually on Saturday, but should return to full team training Sunday and will be available for the Algeria match.
Serious African test
Against Algeria, Germany face Africa's strongest team of the tournament thus far. Löw said the "highly dangerous and aggressive" Desert Warriors will be no pushover, but added his team can still improve after drawing against Ghana and narrowly defeating Jürgen Klinsmann's USA in the group stage.
"Anyone who thinks you have an easy opponent in the last 16 is making a major mistake," said the German coach. "A World Cup is a marathon and not a 100-metre dash where you go all out at the start with the best-possible performance - that'll backfire."
"As we've seen in some other tournaments, teams win their first three matches and then it's all over in the fourth match. A team needs to improve their performance through the course of a tournament. That's the art that a team needs to master," he added. "We know we can play better, we haven't reached our limit yet."
The Algerians famously defeated then West Germany 2-1 in their only previous meeting, a group stage match at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. But the North Africans were ultimately eliminated after the Germans 1-0 win over Austria - famously called the "Schande von Gijon" (the shame of Gijon) - the result allowed both European teams to advance to the next round.
The infamous match left many Algerian fans bitter, but Löw says he sees no reason why the team would try to "punish" the current German team.
dr/mz,ipj (SID, dpa, AP)