Gomez hands Germany injury worry, Oezil to start

Striker Mario Gomez handed Germany a World Cup qualifying headache on Sunday when he pulled up with a knee injury while highly-rated winger Mesut Oezil was confirmed as a starter for Wednesday’s clash with Azerbaijan.

Gomez and 20-year-old Werder Bremen player Oezil both scored in Saturday’s 2-0 friendly win over South Africa.

Coach Joachim Loew used the speed of Oezil and fellow 20-year-old winger Marko Marin to exploit space down the flanks for lone striker Gomez against South Africa.

“My team did well both in terms of result and performance,” said Loew, who criticised his team last month when they struggled to a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan in Baku in the first Group Four meeting between the two countries.

“That was a clear improvement in relation to our last few games, we were more fluid on the ball. We have been together for a week now and you could see the benefits of the extra training.

“There are still a few things which don’t fit into the way we play.

“There is still some room for improvement in defence, Arne Friedrich and Heiko Westermann put in good claims for their centre-back places. Our structure has improved greatly.”

Oezil put in the most eye-catching performance of the night having been handed his first start for Germany and Loew singled him out for praise before adding the youngster will start against Azerbaijan.

“Mesut Oezil brought a lot of creativity and was technically excellent, he has a good eye and can produce some dangerous situations for us,” said the coach.

“He played very well in attack, but he still has things to learn on tracking back, but I am very happy with his performance. I assume he will start against Azerbaijan.”

In front of his home crowd, Leverkusen goalkeeper Rene Adler gave a good account of himself, but his rival Robert Enke will be in Germany’s number one shirt for Wednesday’s qualifier in Hanover.

Germany lead Group Four by a single point and face their most important game of the qualification campaign so far when they take on Russia in Moscow on October 10.