Loew wary of Serbia

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa:

Germany coach Joachim Loew is wary of taking on Serbia today when the opposition needs to at least avoid defeat to keep alive realistic hopes of reaching the second round at the World Cup.

Germany were the most impressive of all 32 nations in the opening round of group matches with a 4-0 rout of Australia but Loew said he was considering one change in his line-up.

"Even if you win, you can still think about one or two positions," Loew said. "I am thinking about one change but I'll leave it to my instinct tomorrow.

"We have a lot of respect for Serbia and we expect a very difficult match. They have very good individuals, they are difficult to dispossess of the ball, they can dominate a game and they are always dangerous."

Serbia defender Neven Subotic will replace the suspended Aleksandar Lukovic from the team that lost 1-0 to Ghana. Coach Radomir Antic said that Subotic was the "natural" replacement for Lukovic, who was sent off in the opener.

Subotic was used as a substitute in that Group D match.

Antic declined to give any other line-up details.

"The loss makes them especially dangerous," Loew said. "If you know their mentality, you know they are capable of fighting until the last minute. It could be a physical game despite the technical abilities of both sides."

Loew has also reminded his team of how Italy started relatively poorly but still won the 2006 World Cup and also how the Netherlands went out of the 2008 European Championship after three group wins.

Antic said his squad lost some confidence in its opening match but was capable of rebounding.

Historic match

"We are facing the team that has shown the best football so far, in my opinion. I was impressed with their game," Antic said. "We know we have to rise to the occasion. That's the trademark of real champions.

"This upcoming match is really a historic match for us. But Germany should also inspire us to regain the passion and joy in our game. We were too tight against Ghana, we failed mentally. All our players have to raise their level."

The teams were scheduled to have a training session yesterday at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, but FIFA told both sides on Wednesday that heavy rain over the past two days had damaged the field too much to practise at the venue.

On Thursday afternoon, a tarpaulin cover was placed at the shady end of the stadium and large warming lamps were spread around half the field. The sun was finally out after three days of rain.

"It seems the bad weather is behind us," Antic said. "We heard about the wind, about the rain. But now it's beautiful. We are expecting to be able to show what we can do tomorrow."

-AP