Rudiger hopes Socceroos underestimate Germany
Joachim Low selected a youthful Germany squad for the FIFA Confederations Cup, and Antonio Rudiger feels it could work to its advantage.
Antonio Rudiger hopes to see teams underestimate Germany at the FIFA Confederations Cup as it prepares for its opening match against Australia.
Joachim Low selected a young squad to take to Russia as the world champion looks to win the inter-continental tournament for the first time.
Established stars including Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels have all been left at home in favour of granting opportunities to up-and-coming talent ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup finals.
Roma defender Rudiger, who is expected to start at the heart of the defence in Sochi, feels uncertainty from outside about Germany's strength could work to its advantage.
"It wasn't so good for me last year because of my injury so I'm looking forward to the Confederations Cup. It's a very good chance to prove myself," said the 26-year-old, who missed UEFA Euro 2016 with cruciate ligament damage.
"Our group will not be easy. We have three physically strong teams. Australia will try to beat us. We don't have all the [usual] players in our team, but that could be an advantage. Some will underestimate us."
For Australia, Tuesday's (AEST) match on the Black Sea coast is its first in the competition since 2005, when it failed to progress from a group after suffering three defeats.
One of those was a thriller against host Germany in Frankfurt, in which Michael Ballack and Lukas Podolski struck in the second half to secure a 4-3 win.
The Socceroos have lost all three of their competitive meetings with Germany and conceded at least three times in those matches, and with a 4-0 friendly loss to Brazil last week still fresh on their minds, hopes of a shock result appear to be slim.
Indeed, defender Milos Degenek, who spent four years in Germany with the Stuttgart youth team and later 1860 Munich, believes Low's youthful group will prove just as formidable as a side packed with more senior players.
"I don't think they have an under-strength team. Most of their players played a full season in the Bundesliga, one of the top leagues in the world," Degenek, who plays in Japan for Yokohama F. Marinos, said.
"They could bring three or four teams and the strength would still be the same."
However, he remains determined for the AFC Cup holder to prove that it can challenge the world's best.
"The boss has the right to say [we can win it] and I believe in that as well," he said. "We're here to win it. We're not here to have fun, experience Russia and its beauty; we're here to stay here until the second of July."