Bierhoff: Germany have a tough group

Germany's general manager Oliver Bierhoff is hoping for a convincing start to their 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ qualifying campaign when they face Faroe Islands on Friday. Die Nationalelf won all ten of their qualifiers for UEFA EURO 2012. Bierhoff is confident of similar success in the run up to the global finals, and he could not have wished for a better opponent to build up a head of steam against. "The Faroes are certainly not going to be our toughest test, but they are good opponents for us to start our qualifying campaign against," he said. "Everybody is expecting that we will win our group and that is our aim too." Germany travel to Austria on Tuesday while Republic of Ireland, Sweden and Kazakhstan are the other opponents in Group C. Bierhoff is therefore aware that things will get progressively more difficult for Germany after they host Faroe Islands in Hannover. "Sweden and Ireland were both at EURO 2012, and they have studied us over the years and are awkward to play against," he said. "It is a tough group." Fortunately, Germany are at full strength for the double-header, with no players withdrawing from the squad coach Joachim Low named last Friday. That did not include Bastian Schweinsteiger, who scored for Bayern Munich at the weekend and declared that he had been able to train "without pain for the first time since February", although Low has preferred to wait until Germany's next matches in October before counting on his vice-captain. Skipper Philipp Lahm and Arsenal duo Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker are in his squad, while Miroslav Klose is likely to get the chance to add to his 64 goals for the national team and edge even closer to the record of 68 held by Gerd Muller. Klose eyes crowning glory The Lazio striker told Bild: "I was at the 2002 World Cup and 2008 European Championship. I got knocked out in the semi-finals of the 2006 and 2010 World Cups and now again at Euro 2012. Now I want to take this one more chance. Winning the World Cup in 2014 would crown my career." Winning their first title since 1996 is Germany's aim after going so close in almost every tournament over the last decade, and Bierhoff is confident that they have learnt from those near misses. "There was something lacking in recent years to win the title, and we have got to take what we have learnt from that into the next two years," added the man who clinched Germany glory at Wembley just over 16 years ago. FIFA