Bierhoff warns Germany not to repeat history by losing second group game

|

UPDATED:

13:02 GMT, 12 June 2012

Germany's team manager Oliver Bierhoff says second group game defeats in the past two tournaments should act as a warning when they face Holland on Wednesday.

The Germans, among the title favourites, go into the game on the back of a 1-0 win over Portugal with the Dutch having their backs to the wall following a surprise loss to Denmark by the same score in Group B.

Defeats by Croatia and Serbia in the Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup respectively put Germany in a tight spot going into their final group games at those events and the three-time European champions are eager to avoid a repeat scenario.

Warning: Oliver Bierhoff does not want history to be repeated

'I hope that after the second game this time it will be different and that we come out as winners,' the former Germany international said.

'In the third game we were then under pressure against seemingly weaker opponents like Austria (2008) and Ghana (2010).'

Germany breezed past Netherlands 3-0 in a friendly in November but Bierhoff warned Wednesday's clash would be a completely different affair.

Winner: Mario Gomez's towering header earned Germany victory over Portugal

'We should not see that game as a standard. We would be crazy to think that this game will be anything like that. It will be a much more physical game,' he said.

'They were missing two or three players then. Now it will be a much tougher game because they are under pressure to win.'

'But if everything comes together for us we can win this game. We have said we want to beat the Dutch and that has not changed.'