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World Cup difficult for title holders, says Germany’s Bierhoff

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Berlin: World champions Germany are one of the World Cup favourites but have to avoid the fate of previous title holders who were eliminated early, the national team’s sporting director Oliver Bierhoff says. “In three of the last four World Cups, the reigning champions have been eliminated in the group stage,” Bierhoff said in an interview posted on the German football federation website DFB. Bierhoff pointed to France and Italy as reigning world champions to go out in the group stages of the 2002 and 2010 World Cups respectively. Spain, the 2010 winners, were eliminated in the 2014 group stage “A tournament is very tough even for current champions. Our mentality will dictate how far we go in the tournament,” he said in the interview to coincide with his 50th birthday on Tuesday.


The former international striker, scorer of the golden goal in the Euro 1996 final, said: “We have players with a lot of quality. I think we’re one of the favourites.” Bierhoff said he had written down his preferred 23-man squad but it was the decision of coach Joachim Loew, who will announce his provisional squad on May 15 in Dortmund. “We’re constantly jotting down names but mostly we have more than 23,” he said. He added: “Every player wishes to be a part of such a massive event but there are one or two players who are going through a tough time at the moment or are in great form which would give the group momentum.” — dpa


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