Like Alonso, the team director Oliver Bierhoff is convinced of his side's new quality. "We're in a better position than we were in 2017. We are privileged to have a bigger and better pool of players," the 1996 European Champion stressed.

Bierhoff announced that the German Football Association is planning to devise a new masterplan to secure the country's leading position in world football.

"We have reached a crossroads. To avoid mistakes in a successful phase we have to improve and develop," the former striker said. Bierhoff says that without further innovations, Germany is in danger of losing its place in the world's elite.

Some years ago, "we had six to seven top talents every year, now we have come down to two or three. It tells us we will have to consider new strategies like we did in 2000 by setting up youth academies at all of our clubs," he said.

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