Santos was appointed as Paulo Bento's replacement last month following Portugal's humiliating 1-0 loss to Albania in their Group I opener, although he is currently subject to an eight-game ban by FIFA for misconduct during Greece's World Cup last-16 penalty shootout loss to Costa Rica.
That ban, upheld on appeal by FIFA, will see him unable to oversee things from the touchline in Saturday's friendly with France or the clash with Denmark - who Portugal have not beaten away from home since 1995.
Albania host Denmark three days earlier hoping to inflict a similar shock on the Scandinavians before visiting a Serbia side that will be coming off a challenging away game in Armenia.
"Both of these games in October are extremely important," he told the German Football Association's website.
"If we are successful against Poland and then afterwards against Ireland, then we could give ourselves a cushion."
Ireland's clash with Germany comes after a meeting with international newboys Gibraltar, who then host Georgia.
Scotland, who lost 2-1 to Germany in their opening fixture, entertain Georgia and then visit Poland as they aim to build on an encouraging performance in Dortmund last time out.
Ukraine, beaten 1-0 by Slovakia in their opener, are arguably favourites for second spot behind Spain and will be eager to recover versus Belarus and Macedonia.
Italy, defeated by Spain in the Euro 2012 final, should be expected to continue their good start under Antonio Conte against Azerbaijan and Malta, but Group H rivals Bulgaria face much tougher assignments versus Croatia and Norway.
Norway, beaten 2-0 by Italy in their opener, will also take on Malta while Croatia's other game is with Azerbaijan.
Group B sees World Cup quarter-finalists Belgium open their campaign against Andorra and Bosnia-Herzegovina, while Israel travel to Cyprus and Andorra following the suspension of last month's meeting with Marc Wilmots' men due to safety fears.
Lithuania host Estonia and Slovenia, who will also be looking to inflict further pain on Vladimir Petkovic's Switzerland ahead of their trip to San Marino.
Greece, famous winners in 2004, meet Finland and Northern Ireland in Group F after coming unstuck in the opener against a Romania side that will attempt to build on their 1-0 triumph in Piraeus with wins over Hungary and Finland.
The group's other games see Austria visit Moldova and Sweden host Liechtenstein.
