Per Mertesacker has insisted that Germany must be at their best to stand a chance of securing the nation’s fourth World Cup title, reports Sky Sports.
Germany will line up alongside Argentina at Estádio Maracanã on Sunday as the favourites to lift the trophy, having consigned pre-tournament favourites Brazil to a humiliating 7-1 defeat earlier in the week.
However, Mertesacker has urged his colleagues to maintain the high level of performance they achieved against the Selecao or risk being overturned by the South Americans.
“We must play the same way that we did against Brazil, otherwise we have no chance”
“Our performance against Brazil was nearly 100 per cent. If you look at the stats, the passing, the goals we scored, everything was so fluent. But if we drop five per cent then we will have no chance.
The Arsenal centre-back warned of complacency in light of Germany’s 7-1 victory over Brazil.
“(Winning 7-1) is dangerous for us. We can’t lose our focus now because we scored seven goals. We must keep calm and be aware of the situation. Our main target is to win the final.
“We want to finish on a high. We want more history. We don’t want to just settle for this result before the final.”
While beating Argetnina will be at the forefront of Germany’s mind on Sunday, a handful of Joachim Löw’s players are in the running for individual awards.
Thomas Muller is currently only one goal shy of James Rodriguez’s tally of six in the race for the Golden Boot, while Manuel Neuer has been shortlisted for the Golden Glove accolade.
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Per Mertesacker has won 75% of his headed duels at the World Cup.
Topics: Per Mertesacker
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