Euro 2012 qualifying preview: Turkey v Germany

Germany coach Joachim Loew is aiming to finish Euro 2012 qualifying with a 100 percent record going into Friday’s match against Turkey.

Beaten finalists at Euro 2008 and World Cup semi-finalists last year, Germany have already secured passage to next year’s European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine.

They top Group A with a maximum of 24 points from eight matches played so far.

But despite their comfortable position, Loew has no intention of letting standards drop in the last two fixtures, against Turkey and Belgium.

“10 games and 10 wins is what we would all wish for,” Loew said.

“However, both Turkey and Belgium are big challenges. They are both going to give it all they have got to finish second.”

“But we want to get through the qualifying campaign unbeaten.”

Turkey, Germany’s hosts at the Turk Telekom Arena on Friday, are second in the group with 14 points, just two ahead of Belgium, who take on Kazakhstan at home on the same day.

Loew said he may consider fielding fringe players in the final qualifier at home to Belgium on Tuesday.

“First up we have Turkey and then we will see what we will do against Belgium,” Loew said.

“I won’t be making seven or eight changes, though.”

While Loew’s selections to date give a strong indication of which players are in line for a berth at next year’s finals, the coach claims he does not intend to finalise his squad until shortly before the tournament.

“We have positive battles for places in every position,” he said.

“Every player can strengthen their position in games like this, but the finishing touches are the last four to five weeks (before Euro 2012) and that is when it will be decided who plays and who is in form, not in September or October of the year before.”

“All the players have a good basis and they can now improve it before the European Championships.”