体坛英语新闻：Loew looks to defend Germany's World Cup crown at Russia 2018

BERLIN, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Germany is entering the final stage of its preparations for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The 2014 World Cup winners face Spain and Brazil in two friendlies in Dusseldorf and Berlin.

German national team coach Joachim Loew has made it quite clear that past glories play no part in securing future success.

The 57-year-old makes no secret of his ambitious plans to be the first German national team coach to defend a World Cup title.

In selecting the strongest squad for 2018, only eight heroes from the country's glorious past have survived.

A mixture of the victorious 2014 team, the 2017 Confed Cup winners and top Germans playing for the best European clubs are said to be the key to producing a new football fairy-tale.

"Meeting two of the world's best like Spain and Brazil is the ideal test. I'm sure all of our squad members are ready to face the special challenge and prove their quality," Loew commented.

The coach's ambitious plans are likely to pay off as several pundits expect the German team will develop into an even better side than the one that featured in Brazil four years ago.

Former Spanish international Xabi Alonso predicts Germany will take an even stronger squad to Russia. "They are the title holders and have improved. Not only that, they [also]have an unbreakable confidence," the former Bayern Munich midfielder said.

Germany proved its great potential by winning the 2017 Confed Cup with a team of highly talented youngsters.

Like Alonso, the team director Oliver Bierhoff is convinced of his side's new quality. "We're in a better position than we were in 2014. We are privileged to have a bigger and better pool of players," the 1996 European Champion stressed.

Bierhoff announced that the German Football Association is planning to devise a new masterplan to secure the country's leading position in world football.

"We have reached a crossroads. To avoid mistakes in a successful phase we have to improve and develop," the former striker said. Bierhoff says that without further innovations, Germany is in danger of losing its place in the world's elite.

Some years ago, "we had six to seven top talents every year, now we have come down to two or three. It tells us we will have to consider new strategies like we did in 2000 by setting up youth academies at all of our clubs," he said.