Time to focus on Euro 2008 glory says Ballack

Michael Ballack believes Germany must forget about the euphoria which engulfed the country at this summer's World Cup and switch the focus to the upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Michael Ballack believes Germany must forget about the euphoria which engulfed the country at this summer's World Cup and switch the focus to the upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Germany begin their campaign against the Republic of Ireland in Stuttgart on Saturday and captain Ballack, 29, insists their third place finish at the World Cup means nothing now.

"We have to come down off our World Cup cloud and focus on the hard work ahead," Ballack said at a press conference on Thursday. "There are a lot of tough games coming up.

"It is a new chapter and the circumstances are very different from the World Cup. We need to prove ourselves all over again.

"We have a new coach now. We all miss Jurgen Klinsmann but not that much has changed really as Joachim Low was connected to the old regime."

Low was Klinsmann's assistant at the World Cup and took over as head coach after his mentor resigned after the finals.

Low has set the target of two opening wins against Ireland and then San Marino four days later.

He has also put Euro 2008 glory as the long-term objective and Chelsea midfielder Ballack agrees.

"We want to qualify and then we can set the target of winning the European championships," said Ballack.

"Eveyone expects two wins from the next two matches but we have problems in defence with a lot of key players out."

Germany have lost Robert Huth, Per Mertesacker, Christoph Metzelder and Jens Nowotny to injury and Ballack says the midfield need to shoulder the defensive burden.

"Torsten (Frings) and I have a duty to help out the defence and provide some stability," said Ballack.

"However we want to continue playing attacking football and win both matches in style.

"The good thing is we can afford to lose a game and still qualify. It is not like the World Cup where you can not lose one match or everything is over."

Germany are the bookmakers' favourites to win qualifying Group D which contains Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Cyprus, Wales and San Marino.