Germany focused, fit and hard to beat: Loew

DPA/Salvador, Brazil Germany will be hard to beat at the World Cup if the team fulfils its potential, coach Joachim Loew said yesterday on the eve of side’s encounter with Portugal. Loew sounded a confident note as the team trained in Salvador’s Arena Fonte Nova and said all players were completely fit for the Group G game. “We have shown in the last few years that we are a team of great quality. We have improved enormously in many areas,” Loew said. “If we can call on our potential throughout the whole of the tournament we will be a team that is hard to beat.” Loew said all the injury problems of the past few weeks were now over and “all players are 100 per cent ready to be used.” Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger had to undergo a hospital scan Saturday on the instructions of world governing body FIFA before the squad left for Salvador. FIFA said yesterday this was a routine examination which all players with recent injuries have to undergo for insurance purposes. FIFA has to pay compensation to clubs for injuries sustained during tournaments. Schweinsteiger has no new problems after recovering from an inflamed knee tendon, Loew said. Captain Philipp Lahm and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had similar examinations in Munich before the team left for Brazil. Neuer is expected to return between the posts after recovering from a right shoulder joint injury. “I feel good, I am fit and can do everything,” Neuer told reporters before training in the stadium. The Bayern Munich keeper injured the shoulder more than four weeks ago in the German Cup final against Borussia Dortmund. He missed the last two friendlies, against Cameroon and Armenia, when Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller was in goal. Loew meanwhile gave nothing away about his starting line-up, or whether he would play without Miroslav Klose, the only established striker in the squad. Arsenal Lukas Podolski and Chelsea’s Andre Schuerrle are meanwhile candidates for the left side after the injury withdrawal of Marco Reus. “Both could play from the start because they can help the team a lot,” Loew said. “Andre Schuerrle has taken a big step forward in England, and Lukas Podolski is also bubbling with energy. Both players could begin, but they could also provide impetus for the team coming on as substitutes.” Loew said team spirit had grown during training in Brazil, and he could now sense the tension growing ahead of Germany’s opening game at the tournament - their 100th in all at World Cup finals. “The players are focused on this game and with the final training today the World Cup has really started,” he said.