Mesut Ozil says an emphasis on youth has underpinned Germany's recent success.
Only two members of the world champions’ squad for their recent European Championship qualifiers against Poland and Scotland were over the age of 30.
Joachim Low’s side will qualify for France 2016 with a victory over the Republic of Ireland on Thursday. After an inconsistent start to their qualifying campaign, Ozil believes Germany are returning to their best.
"When you look at the senior side, you see a lot of young players with a lot of quality"
“I think we’re on a good path, but we know that we have more potential and we want to show that in the upcoming games,” he told Arsenal Player. “It’s difficult when you’ve been apart for a long time and then come together again with the national team.
“It’s always more difficult than at your club, where you train together every day and know each other. But we’re on a good way.
“We’ve realised our potential in important games. We know that we can do more but what was important was to get six points.
“We did that and now we want to improve further in the next games.
“Hopefully we can do that at the European Championship too, if we qualify, and bring the cup back to Germany.”
Ozil is confident that Germany will be a major force for years to come.
“I think that will be the case for years to come because the work with youth teams in Germany is very good.
“When I have free time or am in Germany, I sometimes go and watch youth matches and you can see that there is a lot of potential and much emphasis is put on the development of young players.
“That has distinguished Germany in recent years. When you look at the senior side, you see a lot of young players with a lot of quality.”
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