Poland chase historic win over Germany

WARSAW, Oct 10 (AFP): Poland are chasing an historic first win over world champions Germany in Warsaw Saturday with top spot in their Euro 2016 qualifying group at stake.
Adam Nawalka's Poland top Group D on goal difference by virtue of their 7-0 rout of minnows Gibraltar in their opening match.
But Joachim Loew's Germany are hard on their heels after seeing off Scotland 2-1 in their opener in Dortmund last month.
Poland are searching for a maiden win over their neighbours at the 19th attempt, while the Germans are rebuilding after several key retirements in the wake of their World Cup triumph and a host of injuries.
Both veteran defenders Philipp Lahm and Per Mertesacker have retired, while Loew has a mounting injury list to contend with including new captain Bastian Schweinsteiger, plus Sami Khedira, Marco Reus, Mesut Ozil and Mario Gomez.
They are unbeaten in 18 competitive matches and have not lost any of their last 33 qualifiers since a 3-0 home defeat to the Czech Republic in October 2007.
Staggeringly, Germany's last away defeat in a qualifying match was a 3-0 loss against Portugal in June 2000.
Poland have scored just once in their six competitive meetings against either Germany or West Germany, but the visitors are taking nothing for granted.
"Poland are the sort of team who will put up a fight, they have good technical players, they have evolved and are more compact," said Germany's assistant coach Thomas Schneider.