Beckenbauer not worried about Germany start

Joachim Low's men swept all before them to lift the World Cup back in July as Mario Gotze's extra-time strike defeated Argentina 1-0 at the Maracana.

Since then, however, Germany have faltered.

They were beaten by Argentina in a friendly on home soil and then struggled to defeat a stubborn Scotland side 2-1 in their opening Group D fixture last month, before losing 2-0 in Poland and being held 1-1 at home by Republic of Ireland in the latest round of matches.

Those results leave Low's side fourth in the group and out of the qualification berths for the tournament in France in two years' time.

However, with seven matches still to play Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as a player in 1974 and then as a coach in 1990, is not concerned.

"We have no reason to worry about qualification for Euro 2016, above all because we can still obtain it by finishing third. But that won't happen," he told Bild.

"There's no reason to lose our cool. Because that [a slump in form] also happened after the world title in 1974."