Germany take 100 percent record to Azerbaijan

Germany, who called up Lewis Holtby and Sebastian Rudy on Sunday as injury replacements, top Group A with 18 points from six games after their 2-1 win in Austria on Friday.

Belgium are second on 11 points from seven games and Turkey third on 10 from six. Azerbaijan are level on three points with last-placed Kazakhstan.

At the end of a long season and without midfield dynamos Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Kehdira, Germany coach Joachim Low is pushing for another win that would all but seal their qualification for next year's tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

His only out-and-out forward, Mario Gomez, has been in superb form in recent months and could add to his 45-goal tally that includes strikes for club and country in all competitions in the past season. Gomez struck twice against Austria.

"I am fully confident that my players will do their job well in Azerbaijan," Low told reporters. "We know we need to dig deep because we are at the end of a long season. It will not be, however, a walk in the park because even Turkey lost there."

Low's compatriot Vogts has problems of a different kind after he was attacked by three men at a news conference on Sunday following his team's 2-1 defeat to Kazakhstan on Friday.

Vogts, who won the 1974 World Cup as a player and coached Germany to the 1996 European title, escaped unhurt as security guards stepped in at the last moment as the men tried to hit him with a coffee pot and toilet rolls.

"I would have long left if it was not for my friendship to the federation president," he said. "I have experienced many things but nothing like that. I do not have the words to describe this."

Vogts is already being linked in the media with a possible move to Turkey should Guus Hiddink take over English Premier League side Chelsea.