After beating England and Argentina at the World Cup, Germany faces Belgium in its European Championship qualifying opener, bent on avoiding the trap of underestimating a struggling opponent.
"Starting versus Belgium will be tough as Belgian players will be very motivated to play in front of their own public," said defender Philipp Lahm, who will be Germany captain on Friday.
Still, he said, they want to start out with three points.
Even if Belgium has slumped from 16th to 49th in the FIFA world rankings within six years, it still has plenty of players in the big leagues, including Lahm's Bayern Munich teammate, Daniel Van Buyten.
"The Belgian players are playing in important football clubs, and they are used to play major football competitions, so this is why we would never underestimate them," Germany assistant coach Hans-Dieter Flick said.
Germany reached the semifinals of the World Cup, losing only to eventual winner Spain 1-0 and beguiled everyone with its open, creative play. By now, though, German fans are craving a trophy again, 14 years after winning Euro 1996 in England.
"We will give everything and hope to do a great game and a great tournament," said Lahm, who also played in the 1-0 loss to Spain in the Euro 2008 final.
In comparison, Belgium has failed to qualify for a major tournament since 2002.
Turkey, Austria and Kazakhstan are the other teams in Group A, making it a tall order for Belgium to advance.
After Dick Advocaat quit as coach in April, barely half a year after joining, Belgium went back to coach Georges Leekens. The former bruising defender led the Belgians to the 1998 World Cup.
