Germany: Loew has growing injury worries ahead of Euro2012

Germany are set to be one of the favourites going into the 2012 European Championships this summer in Poland and the Ukraine. But coach Joachim Loew's list of injured players seems to be growing by the day with currently defender Per Mertesacker plus midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Mario Goetze all injured.

Loew seems to be not worried at the moment as he told the German media, "There is no panic when we hear of a new injury. The clubs need to worry more than I do, at the moment. For us, we can still cope."

Loew would be more worried if the players were injured in late-April or May going into the final weeks of preparations for Euro2012. But injuries now Loew thinks could be a blessing in disguise as all these players are getting some rest and recovery time from a hectic start into 2012 as none of the injuries are too serious.

Arsenal centre-back Per Mertesacker seems to have the most serious injury with an ankle injury, where the doctors cannot say when he will return to match fitness as the original assessment was six weeks, but now the doctors think it will take more time to heal.

FC Bayern Munich Bastian Schweinsteiger's case is the most tragic as he just returned from a collar-bone injury late last year and now picked-up an ankle injury, while Lukas Podolski is out with a foot injury and Mario Goetze has groin problems, which forced the teenager of the playing field.

But the 2010 FIFA World Cup showed that Germany can cover in case of injuries. The big leader then Michael Ballack was out before the tournament, Germany had the worst fears going into the World Cup but then the young guns showed the new way Germany plays its football.