Marco Reus is confident Germany can put their recent woes behind them and kick off their bid to qualify for next summer’s European Championship with victory in Holland.
Off the back of a dismal World Cup defence, where they lost twice and failed to progress to the knockout stages, Joachim Low’s side were then relegated to the second tier of the Nations League.
Facing Holland in the newly formed tournament, Germany lost and drew the two encounters against their rivals last year.
But Borussia Dortmund forward Reus believes the four-time world champions are capable of taking all three points when the teams face off at the Amsterdam ArenA on Sunday evening.
“If we have the right mindset and work together as a team, then we have every chance of getting a result there,” Reus told dfb.de.
“We need to be quick on the counter, stay compact in defence and we have to want it.
“If we do that on the night, then it’s difficult for anyone against us and I’m confident that we will win the game.
“Our aim is to give 100 per cent and we will do all we can to get the three points.”
Thomas Muller, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels have not been selected by Low as the under-fire Germany boss attempts to usher in a new era.
Indeed, their squad for the clash against Holland, and last Wednesday’s disappointing 1-1 friendly draw with Serbia, features 10 players who have five or fewer caps.
Reus, along with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, and midfielder Toni Kroos, who between them have played more than 200 times for Germany, will be viewed as the natural leaders of Low’s new-look squad.
Reus, 29, added: “It’s my job to carry responsibility at club level and I try to do the same here.
“It will take time though as a lot of young players have come into the squad and still need to find their feet. Our goal is to reach the same level we were at.”
Holland head into the fixture boosted by a 4-0 victory against Belarus in their opening Group C qualifier.
Virgil Van Dijk was among the scorers in the convincing performance last Thursday, but the Liverpool defender insists Holland do not consider themselves as favourites to win in Amsterdam.
“The Germans still have fantastic players even if they might be talking over there about a crisis,” he said.
“We also had a spell like that where things did not go for us. That was not a good phase. But we must worry about ourselves and not Germany. I don’t think we are favourites.”
