Low laments disrupted Poland preparations

The world champions, who defeated Scotland 2-1 in their opening Group D fixture last month, travel to Poland on Saturday before hosting Republic of Ireland in Gelsenkirchen on Tuesday.

Low has a lengthy injury list to contend against, with the likes of Mesut Ozil, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sami Khedira, Marco Reus and Mario Gomez all unavailable.

And the 54-year-old has expressed his regret that their preparation had not progressed as he had hoped.

"Our situation this week has not been that easy," he said. "It hasn't worked out like we planned and obviously we planned to have Mesut Ozil fit to start the game against Poland.

"There are a lot of players who played a big role during the World Cup that are not with us this week.

"We've got a lot of young players and during the week everything took a little bit longer. But I'm sure we have a good squad.

"In the last few years the games in October have been really important for us especially after a big tournament like the World Cup.

"I think the players are physically and mentally a little further than they were in September."