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By Kenneth Offor
Germany coach Joachim Low has drawn a line under the speculation over the future of Mario Gotze as he tries to prepare his squad for Euro 2016.
The Bayern Munich playmaker has rarely been out of the headlines in the last week after stating his intention to see out the final year of his contract with the Bundesliga champions, despite key figures within the club suggesting it would be better to move on to gain more playing time.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, under whom Gotze played at Borussia Dortmund, is keen to bring the 23-year-old to Anfield, while his former club are also interested and, with such two high-profile clubs in the hunt, the player looks set to be one of the summer's major transfer stories.
But Low is determined for it not to impact on German's European Championship campaign.
``The topic does not interest me any more,'' he told a press conference on Saturday ahead of the friendly against Slovakia in Augsburg.
Low insisted he had ``said everything'' on the topic and would not be drawn further.
``It has not interested me for a day or two who's saying what,'' he added.
Low is far more concerned with their tournament preparations and believes Sunday's opponents Slovakia will provide the ideal trial run for the challenges ahead at Euro 2016.
The world champions are one of the favourites for the tournament in France and, as a result, Low expects most opponents to play on the counter-attack against them.
``In the Euros there will be no team that takes us on, tries to attacks us and wants to take the game to us - that will not happen against Poland, Ukraine or against Northern Ireland,'' he added.
``We expect defensive teams and Slovakia operate similar to those teams in terms of their structure and ideas.
``We want to see how we can avoid the counter-attack when we are against nine or 10 players, a wall.''
With that in mind Low is not too concerned about how his side get on in the build-up.
``I know from experience that the results are entirely secondary in preparation and the training is tailored to the start of the tournament,'' he said.
Low's assessment of Slovakia's approach was confirmed by their coach Jan Kozak.
``The Germans are a tough nut. We want to be a tough opponent,'' he said.
``If we are not well prepared for it we can concede many goals.''
ends
Germany vs Slovakia: Preview and Prediction
Germany starts their Euro preparation with a friendly game against Slovakia on 29th May 2016 at WWK Arena Augsburg. Germany being the reigning World Champions, will be hoping to take over the European trophy from current title holders Spain; who won the trophy back to back. Germany are ranked 5th in the FIFA rankings and are playing Slovakia who are ranked 32nd. And both teams are keen to test their abilities before the Euro competition.
The Germans will be coming into this game on the back of a 4-1 thrilling victory over the Italians in March. They lost 3-2 to the Three Lions of England days before the Italy Victory. Germany finished top of their group in the qualifying stage of the Euros, though it wasn’t easy for them as they lost home and away to Poland and also lost away to Republic of Ireland.
Slovakia were superb in their Qualifying Fixtures though they finished second behind reigning Champions Spain. They started with 6 straight wins which kept them top of the table initially, but later slipped and conceded the pole position to Spain. Hamsik finished as the group’s top scorer with 5 goals. This will be the first time Slovakia take part at the European competition.
Germany: Team News
Neuer will be rested for the game as Bayer Leverkusen shot stopper Bernd Leno will play in goal post for the Germans.
Mat Hummels will miss the game as he is on recovery from calf injury. Schweinstiger is yet to attain full fitness and won’t be risked ahead of the Euros.
Germany: Predicted Line-up (4-2-3-1)
Leno – Howedes, Boateng, Rudiger, Can – Khedira, Kross – Reus, Draxler, Muller – Gomez.
Slovakia: Team News
Slovakia rested most of their players in the friendly played against Georgia on Friday, they rested players will be recalled to the starting line up.
Slovakia: Predicted Line-up (4-2-3-1)
Mucha – Pekarik, Skrtel, Durica, Hubocan – Pecovsky, Kucka – Mak, Hamsik, Weiss – Nemec.
Germany vs Slovakia: Head-To-Head stats
Germany have won most their ties together, they have won 3 games and lost 1 in their 4 meetings. None of their meetings have ended in draw. Their last meeting was in 2007 which the Germans won 2-1
Germany vs Slovakia: Prediction
Germany may be the favourite with the big names they have in their squad but Slovakia are having an excellent run right from the beginning of the qualifiers, wining most of their games. With missing names and injury in the German camp, I think Slovakia has a chance of coming out victorious.
I expect Slovakia to give Germans a hard fight and earn a win or a draw.
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