Misfiring German strikers fail to worry Loew

With none of his strikers in form, Germany coach Joachim Loew inists he is not concerned by their lack of goals as he prepares to face Turkey in Friday’s key Euro 2012 qualifier at the top of Group A.

Both Germany and Turkey have won their opening qualifiers and the winner of Friday night’s match will be in pole-position to win an automatic place for the European Championships to be held in the Ukraine and Poland in two years.

Loew is without his vice-captain Bastian Schweinsteiger, who has an ankle injury, and his strikers have all been in poor form in the Bundesliga.

After seven league games so far this season, neither Mario Gomez nor Miroslav Klose have a single goal or assist for Bayern Munich.

Likewise, Brazil-born Cacau has scored twice for bottom side Stuttgart with two assists, while Lukas Podolski has also netted twice for struggling Cologne.

Loew’s four forwards have four goals between them, but is relaxed about the state of affairs.

“It doesn’t worry me, it is some thing I had expected,” said Loew, who was presented on Tuesday with the Federal Cross of Merit by German President Christian Wulff for his services to the national side.

“The players have had an incredible World Cup and some of them are showing they have lost a bit of strength. That is normal.”

Klose and Podolski rarely fail to play well for the national side: Podolski, 25, has already won 81 caps for his country and scored 41 goals, while Klose, 32, has scored 55 goals for his country and won 103 caps.

“They have always performed well for us, so I trust them. Mario has potential to improve,” added Loew.

Gomez, 25, is the biggest concern as he has spent the last six months on the bench at Bayern and struggled in the 2-0 defeat at Dortmund on Sunday when given a rare start.

He missed a string of chances and is a shadow of the player Munich bought for 30 million euros from Stuttgart in July 2009.

“I gave my all (against Dortmund), but it was not enough,” said Gomez glumly after the final whistle.

Klose, who has three goals from his two Euro 2012 qualifiers Germany appearances, spent 90 minutes on the bench in Dortmund, but was philosophical.

“If you go with a defeat on your mind into the Germany camp, you always have a bad feeling,” said Klose.

“But we have to try and disconnect what we are doing at Bayern and try to be successful for the national team.”

Klose last scored in the Bundesliga back in April against Moenchengladbach and only netted three times the whole of last season, yet managed four goals at the World Cup finals, including two against Argentina in the quarter-finals.