FOCUS ON GERMANY: Emmet Malonelooks at some of the problems that Germany coach Joachim Loew must resolve.

SAY WHAT you like about the Germans, but they've never been ones to be intimidated by long odds when they set their collective mind to something. When it comes to football, of course, it's not a problem they've had to wrestle with much. A hat-trick each of World Cups and European Championships has been enough to ensure they are always rated among the tournament favourites.

While the outpouring of good-natured national pride that accompanied the staging of the last World Cup in Germany created a wave for Jürgen Klinsmann's side to surf all the way to the semi-final when little had been expected of them two years ago, Joachim Loew and co are in a more difficult situation ahead of tomorrow's first outing against Poland.

That the bookies rate this German side as the most likely winners in Vienna on June 30th can be explained at least in part by the fact their path to the knock-out stages is a good deal more straightforward than that of most of their major title rivals.

That more than half of the respondents in a survey of more than 20,000 of the team's supporters carried out by a German sports magazine believe Loew and his players will return home with the trophy is less firmly rooted in logic, however, and must have a little more to do with the population's traditional sense of self-belief.

None of which is to say this is a particularly weak German squad, simply it is not at all, by their standards, an especially good one.

Still regarded as a hero for his role in the quarter-final penalty shoot-out against Argentina two years ago, Jens Lehmann lost his form followed by his place at Arsenal and goes into this tournament with little more than a handful of international friendlies to show for the last six months. One key defender, Christoph Metzelder, has spent most of the campaign warming the treatment table or the subs' bench at Real Madrid, while Philipp Lahm had a disappointing year at Bayern Munich and, because of Loew's problems, may yet play in an unfamiliar role over the coming weeks.

Voted best young player at the World Cup, Lukas Podolski subsequently got eight goals in the qualifying games, although four of them did come in the 13-0 rout of San Marino. At club level, however, he has struggled at Bayern and Loew has tried using him on the left side of midfield in recent friendlies. The vacancy there might arise because the better of the team's wide men, Bernd Schneider, misses the tournament due to a back injury, while Bastian Schweinsteiger - also on the Bayern bench - looks completely out of sorts.

And even Miroslav Klose, having scored five goals in each of the last two World Cup finals, arrives in Austria after a season in which he has been overshadowed in Bayern's attack by Italy's Luca Toni and France's Franck Ribery.

Sebastian Kehl, long talked up as the next Lothar Matthaüs, misses out having struggled in recent seasons to shake off a persistent knee problem, while even among those who are here and ostensibly in good form, Tim Borowski and Arne Freidrich have been ill over the past week while Mario Gomez has been suffering from a calf strain.

With six goals in 10 appearances, Gomez, who was voted German player of the year (an award open to players at home or abroad) is regarded with huge excitement by the team's manager and supporters alike. Physically strong yet quick and technically capable, he has potential to make a major impact.

Loew's position, meanwhile, is rather curious with the coach, hailed as the tactical brains behind the success enjoyed under Klinsmann, now coming in for criticism as a result of what is perceived to be his conservatism. Despite capping 16 new players during his reign, he is likely to start tomorrow with up to nine of the side that began the game against Argentina in Berlin. After naming an initial squad of 26 there was disappointment when the three he cut were the among the three least experienced despite the fact Marko Marin and Patrick Helmes had done well in the Mallorca training camp.

Loew might argue he is on a hiding to nothing and when you consider the team was the first to qualify for this tournament and that there was criticism after the drubbing of San Marino because, while the result was a competition record it fell three goals short of Germany's best (against Russia some nine decades earlier), he might have a point.

Still, with a number of rivalries within the squad to contend with, his judgment and man-management skills have been questioned after he omitted Valencia goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand, Lehmann's number two since Oliver Kahn's retirement, from the squad of 23 but left an assistant to tell him, sparking an angry response. "The national coach did not tell me personally. I take that as a lack of respect for me," said Hildebrand before moving on to his rival's lack of match practice. "I have played 40 matches. As a professional you need game time - I have it, he (Lehmann) does not. I am not at the Euros, he is in goal."

Lehmann's form is a concern. In February when he looked shaky in the 3-0 friendly win over Austria there were some arguing perhaps he should be replaced but at the time he had gone more than 500 minutes for the national side without conceding a goal and so the case for the defence remained strong. His erratic showing in the recent 2-2 draw with Belarus was a different matter, and if the back four don't show a huge improvement from that game and last week's win over Serbia there may be trouble ahead.

The biggest thing going for Germany is their important central midfield partnership of Michael Ballack and Torsten Frings looks to be in good shape.

Then, of course, there are the problems that seem likely to lie in wait for their rivals. One will be accounted for by the "Group of Death", while Spain will presumably blow up mysteriously, the Dutch will fall out with each other, the Italians, already badly hit by the loss of Fabio Cannavaro, look doomed after tempting fate by handing manager Roberto Donadoni a new deal on the eve of the tournament and the Czechs can probably be counted upon to go celebrating either their first convincing win and impending glory (the last World Cup) or a team member's birthday (during the recent Euro qualifiers).

Mmmm, you know, it just might be Germany's tournament.