EVIAN, France // Title contenders Germany are not thinking about their 3-1 defeat by Slovakia in an international friendly last month as they prepare to face them again in the last 16 of Euro 2016 on Sunday.
The world champions slumped to a surprise 3-1 loss on May 29 in their penultimate warm-up game for the tournament in France but said that encounter meant little to them now.
“You cannot take that friendly game as a standard,” Germany assistant coach Thomas Schneider told reporters on Thursday.
“We know Slovakia challenged us, but that was part of our preparation and now it is a knockout game.”
The Slovaks scored three times in nine minutes on a rain-drenched pitch at Augsburg that was barely playable.
See also:
• Richard Jolly: Mario Gomez, the nearly man who may just turn out to be Germany's main man of Euro 2016
• Steve Luckings: Euro 2016 lessons: Will Grigg's on fire, expansion a success, never write off Ronaldo
• Gallery: Germany’s Mario Gomez scores lone goal but world champions dominate Northern Ireland
“The Slovaks play very technical, skilled football. They are compact,” Schneider said. “It is a tough task but one that we can solve and we will solve.”
Germany, eyeing a fourth continental title, have so far yet to hit top form, having managed just one goal in their last two Group C matches despite myriad chances.
They did top their group but are still looking for the right mix in attack that can start unlocking opponents’ defences more efficiently.
Mario Gomez was on target in his first game in this tournament in their 1-0 win over Northern Ireland but, just like Mario Goetze, he wasted chances to increase the scoreline.
“A coach can do a lot of things but he cannot not put the ball in goal,” fellow assistant coach Marcus Sorg said. “What we can do is to work on it.”
The Germans are also hoping they can continue keeping clean sheets at the championship in the possible absence of central defender Jerome Boateng who is nursing a muscle injury.
Boateng was taken off 14 minutes from time against Northern Ireland and did not train with the team on Wednesday. All players were given the day off on Thursday.
“His injury is regressing. We are confident but obviously I am not a prophet,” Sorg said. “We hope it will work.
“There are still two training sessions until the game and we hope it will be enough for him to be fit on Sunday.”
As for the new grass to be laid at Lille stadium after being damaged by bad weather and frequent play, Sorg said: “It cannot be a disadvantage because it could not be any worse than it was.”
Germany played their group-opening 2-0 win over Ukraine at that stadium.
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