Both Marco Reus and goalkeeping coach Andreas Köpke agree that many things must and will improve. Following the 4-2 defeat by Argentina, both men are expecting a win and a much stronger performance when Germany kick off their European Championship qualifying campaign against Scotland on Sunday (live on RTL at 20:45 CET) in Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park. DFB.de brings you highlights from the press conference.
Marco Reus on...
... his feelings after returning to international duty: The most important thing is that I’m feeling good. I was delighted to be involved again and I’m also happy to be kicking off our qualifying campaign in Dortmund.
... the next opponents: The Scots recently beat Croatia twice, they’re a strong team with a fantastic fighting spirit and they’re very good at closing down spaces. When we face them, we’ll need to put in a much better performance than we did in the Argentina game. We need to be more effective in front of goal. If we’d made better use of our chances, we wouldn’t be talking about this now.
... Mario Gomez: Mario had a tough time after picking up an injury and missing the World Cup. He knows what he’s capable of and so do we. It’s just a matter of time before the goals come.
... the upheaval in the national team: Three key performers are no longer involved and Bastian Schweinsteiger is injured. But we still have a fantastic squad with a lot of talented young players who’re coming through. I’ve played a lot of international matches, and often in the starting eleven in recent times. I’ll continue to try to improve, so that I automatically get to the stage where I have to and am able to make decisions in the team. This has already happened in Dortmund and I believe I can do the same within the national team set-up.
... Scotland’s chance of qualification: Scotland definitely have a good chance of finishing in second. They have a real leader in Darren Fletcher and in attack they have a lot of quick and dangerous players. We’ll need to be patient against them.
... the spectators in Dortmund: It’s going to be great. There’s always a wonderful atmosphere there and both I and the whole team are looking forward to Sunday.
... his current level of performance: I’m still not at 100%, but I’m improving with every passing game. I’m sure that’s the case for others too, but we need to give it our all on Sunday. Only then will we have a good chance of winning.
Andreas Köpke on...
Both Marco Reus and goalkeeping coach Andreas Köpke agree that many things must and will improve. Following the 4-2 defeat by Argentina, both men are expecting a win and a much stronger performance when Germany kick off their European Championship qualifying campaign against Scotland on Sunday (live on RTL at 20:45 CET) in Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park. DFB.de brings you highlights from the press conference.
Marco Reus on...
... his feelings after returning to international duty: The most important thing is that I’m feeling good. I was delighted to be involved again and I’m also happy to be kicking off our qualifying campaign in Dortmund.
... the next opponents: The Scots recently beat Croatia twice, they’re a strong team with a fantastic fighting spirit and they’re very good at closing down spaces. When we face them, we’ll need to put in a much better performance than we did in the Argentina game. We need to be more effective in front of goal. If we’d made better use of our chances, we wouldn’t be talking about this now.
... Mario Gomez: Mario had a tough time after picking up an injury and missing the World Cup. He knows what he’s capable of and so do we. It’s just a matter of time before the goals come.
... the upheaval in the national team: Three key performers are no longer involved and Bastian Schweinsteiger is injured. But we still have a fantastic squad with a lot of talented young players who’re coming through. I’ve played a lot of international matches, and often in the starting eleven in recent times. I’ll continue to try to improve, so that I automatically get to the stage where I have to and am able to make decisions in the team. This has already happened in Dortmund and I believe I can do the same within the national team set-up.
... Scotland’s chance of qualification: Scotland definitely have a good chance of finishing in second. They have a real leader in Darren Fletcher and in attack they have a lot of quick and dangerous players. We’ll need to be patient against them.
... the spectators in Dortmund: It’s going to be great. There’s always a wonderful atmosphere there and both I and the whole team are looking forward to Sunday.
... his current level of performance: I’m still not at 100%, but I’m improving with every passing game. I’m sure that’s the case for others too, but we need to give it our all on Sunday. Only then will we have a good chance of winning.
Andreas Köpke on...
...the lessons learned from the Argentina game: It was a bit of a comedown. Things obviously didn’t go as we wanted them to and we were made to pay a heavy price for not taking our chances. We also have some personnel problems - the World Cup is clearly having some after-effects in that respect. There simply wasn’t enough communication between the players, the preparations were really short and a few of the players are not fully fit, but that’s no excuse. We now have the chance to introduce new players into the first team, and that is our main objective in the run-up to the European Championships. We’ve never had it easy playing against Scotland and they’re a very compact side which has now gone six games unbeaten. So the task that we’re facing is certainly not one we’ll take lightly. We’ll need to be patient on Sunday and let our qualities shine through.
…the wake-up call: It was a sign that you can’t afford to take your foot off the gas and rest on your laurels. We brought in a lot of young players. It was clear for all to see that we had a few communication issues there. The match could have also finished 4-4 if we’d made better use of our chances.
…possible changes in defence: We’ll see what happens over the course of the next two days. Jérôme is training without any pain and will return to the team, but we don’t know who else will play.
…the Scottish goalkeeper and the quality of the opposition: Allan McGregor is an experienced goalkeeper who may be unspectacular, but he is consistent. The fact he’s a regular in the English league speaks volumes. However, it’s not important for us which players Scotland field. Their tactics pose us the greatest threat. They’ll try to hit us on the break, but won’t rely exclusively on long balls to do so. They’ll try to play their own game if they get the chance to - that’s what makes them dangerous for us.
