Germany to claim Group A in qualifiers?
Group A will be one of the most hotly contested in the 2012 European Championship qualifiers, which begin this Friday.
The group pits the experienced championship sides of Germany, Turkey, Belgium and Austria against the more novice Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
Germany are held as favourites to claim the automatic qualification that follows a group victory.
The World Cup semi-finalists will face a strong challenge from Turkey, though, while Belgium and Austria will contest for second place.
The best runner-up from all nine groups will also gain direct qualification, while the remaining eight enter play-off matches to determine the remaining four teams. Hosts Poland and Ukraine are automatically qualified.
Germany to build on World Cup success
German coach Joachim Loew will continue to rely on the young squad that proved so successful at the recent World Cup.
At the heart of this team are midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mesut Oezil and Lukas Podolski, as well as defenders Phillipp Lamm and Per Mertesacker.
Loew's squad was the second youngest at World Cup, with an average age of only 25. As he presides over such a promising generation of players, nothing short of direct qualification will be expected from Loew.
“We want, of course, a successful launch in the two European Championship qualifiers and want to build on our performance at the World Cup,” Germany's manager told the website of the German Football Assocation.
Hiddink in charge of Turkey
Dutch manager Guus Hiddink took charge of the Turkish national team this month. Backed by the public after his first game ended in a 2-0 victory against Romania, the Dutchman needs to collect points from the first few games in the group to secure the Turkish public's approval.
Stars such as Emre Belozoglu, Tuncay Sanli and Halil Altıntop should help Hiddink the results he needs.
Turkey begin the qualifying campaign with a challenging away trip to Kazakhstan.
Austria, whose squad includes eight players from the German Bundesliga, face Kazakhstan in Salzburg on 7 September. Manuel Orlechner will miss the game with an injury, but Werder Bremen's Sebastian Proedl and the experienced Christian Fungz should be able to cover in defence.
Austrian defender E***m Dag will relish the opportunity to play against Turkey, the country where he was born, in March. Dag currently plays for Turkish club Besiktas.
Leekens builds experienced Belgian squad
Belgium, whose former manager d**k Advocaat left the post after only four matches in charge, is now managed by Georges Leekens.
With Arsenal's Thomas Vermaelen and Manchester City's Vincent Kompany at his disposal in defence, and with Marouane Felliani of Everton providing the flair from his attacking midfield position, Leekens has plenty of options when fielding his team.
With such a strong core of players competing at the highest level, it would not be a surprise to see Belgium challenge for the second place.
While Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan will nearly exclusively field players from their relatively weak domestic leagues, the other teams in the group will have to fight hard to earn their points when visiting central Asia, where both teams are known to put up a stern fight.
Azerbaijan play their first game against Germany on 7 September.
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