Mertesacker Warns Germany ahead of UEFA EURO 2016 Qualifiers after 4-2 Loss to Argentina
Arsenal defender, Per Mertesacker has said Germany’s 4-2 defeat at home to Argentina on Tuesday night was an important warning to the team ahead of their UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying campaign.
Though Mertesacker, Philipp Lahm and Miroslav Klose have retired from international football and were given a retirement send off prior to the game, the trio were in the stands during the game.
Mertesacker said: “This was a wake-up call for the first qualifying matches. This is what the team needs – it will do us good for Sunday.”
Germany is due to host Scotland in their first EURO 2016 qualifier in Dortmund and coach Joachim Low has reacted to the 4-2 loss by admitting improvements must be made if they are to avoid a false start to their qualifying campaign.
“We committed one or two mistakes in defence and these were punished straight away,” Low said. “Many of these players had never played before so you’ve got to accept that, but you could see how tight things are among the world’s best sides. Argentina are a world class team.
“Things start for us in earnest on Sunday and we’ve got to win then. I’m going to have to call up one or two more players because I don’t think Mats Hummels is going to be fully fit, for example.”
