World Champion Germany: Therapy leads to happiness

Needing one point to qualify for EURO 2016 in France, Germany' s route to happiness seems to be short. But with the games against Ireland (in Dublin on Thursday) and Georgia (in Leipzig on Sunday) coming up, German head coach Joachim Loew is facing a few problems not previously experienced like a preparation without training and a bunch of players frustrated by their poor club results.

"We' ve never been in a situation like that," said the 55-year-old Loews ahead of his 125th international game. After 17 of his 23 players were only able to report for international duty as late as Sunday evening, he felt, "we need to take things easy and have a close look at what we demand from our players. They are almost playing non-stop at the moment."

Loew has decided to tone things down at the moment, knowing many of his players have suffered bad results at club level recently. Meaning: Loew' s training camp shortly before the finish line appears more like a health spa.

"We won' t be using the two games for experiments," commented Loew. Which means World Champions Benedikt Hoewedes (FC Schalke 04), Julian Draxler (VfL Wolfsburg) and Sami Khedira (Juventus Turin) will remain on the sidelines after not fully returning to form or fitness after injury. The World Cup-winning coach has a rather unconventional solution in mind to get over the present "crisis" : Therapy for body and mind.

Looking at his squad, Loew spotted several patients such as Manchester United's Bastian Schweinsteiger who lost the clash with Arsenal (3-0), Borussia Dortmund`s Mats Hummels, Marco Reus, Matthias Ginter and Ilkay Guendogan after a devastating 5-1 defeat at Bayern Munich.

In addition goalkeepers like newcomer Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen) and Marc Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona) have been going through a tough time at their clubs as have Andre Schuerrle, Max Kruse (VfL Wolfsburg) and Toni Kroos (Real Madrid).

Leverkusen' s Karim Bellarabi, Christoph Kramer and Leno are still a little down after the narrow defeat in the Champions League against Barcelona (2-1) and a poor 1-1 draw in the Bundesliga against Augsburg.

Loew is counting on the help of the winners in his squad such as Mesut Oezil (Arsenal) and Munich' s Jerome Boateng, Manuel Neuer, Thomas Mueller and Mario Goetze. Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray Istanbul) is unable to play due to injury.

But even the German team' s health spa program had to be put together in a hurry. Low only welcomed his players at their Frankfurt hotel less than 36 hours before take-off to Dublin. "There is a serious reason for us not wanting to think about experiments until November qualifying is over," emphasized Loew. "I want us to finish the group games in a serious way and be competitive and fully concentrated." Meaning: Loew wants to finish as top of Group D (Germany 19 points/Poland 17/Ireland 15/Scotland 11).

In order to prepare his team of "patients" , Loew has organized a schedule involving regeneration on the training ground and inside the team hotel.

"I am sure we will manage to win. The way in which the games against Poland and Scotland were won has shown me that my players are fully focused when it is needed," said Loew who expects a similar good performance against Ireland, "especially as the Irish are hopeful of qualifying and are known for their fighting spirit" .

If they make it to France German players will be rewarded by the German federation with up to 200,000 euros per player depending on their number of games played. Four million euros will be spent by the "Deutsche Fussball Bund" (DFB).

Wanting to concentrate on the qualification for the major European tournament 2016 in France, Loew knows the German team still has its problems filling the left and right back positions. For the moment, newcomers like Jonas Hector (1. FC Cologne) and midfielder Emre Can (Liverpool) are no more than a part time solution without a great amount of international experience.

After the "last difficult step is made" (as Loew says), he will start his period of experiments. Then Borussia Dortmund`s Marcel Schmelzer might be a candidate as well as Mario Gomez (Besiktas Istanbul) after both have been playing well recently.

Loew additionally will be keeping a close eye on Schweinsteiger progress in Manchester along with Schuerrle and Draxler in Wolfsburg, Goetze in Munich, Kroos in Madrid and Podolski in Istanbul. "We have a clear goal as mentioned before," Loew says. Meaning: The 2014 World Champion aims at winning not only the tournament in France but is keeping the 2018 World Cup in Russia in mind as well.

The German squad:

Goalkeepers: Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona).

Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Emre Can (Liverpool), Matthias Ginter, Mats Hummels (both Borussia Dortmund), Jonas Hector (1. FC Cologne), Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia), Sebastian Rudy (1899 Hoffenheim).

Midfielders: Karim Bellarabi (Bayer Leverkusen), Ilkay Guendogan, Marco Reus (both Borussia Dortmund), Christoph Kramer (Bayer Leverkusen), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Oezil (Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray Istanbul), Andre Schuerrle (VfL Wolfsburg), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United).

Forwards: Mario Goetze (Bayern Munich), Max Kruse (VfL Wolfsburg), Kevin Volland (1899 Hoffenheim)

Endi