Polanski injury concerns Germany

Having scored the only goal of Germany's opening-day victory against Serbia and Montenegro yesterday, midfield player Eugen Polanski is in danger of missing Thursday's Group A summit meeting with fellow winners France.

France doubt
The VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach schemer struck a superb decider from distance in the 61st minute in Barcelos, yet was forced off with an abdominal injury just four minutes later. Polanski told uefa.com: "After the first 45 minutes I told the coaching staff that I wanted to play as long as I could, but in the end the pains were so extreme that I was worried I might have a strain." His chances of facing France? "I will have some light training on Wednesday and then we will see.

Delayed delight
"During the first half of the game, when I hit two shots which were blocked, I felt that I struck the ball very well but afterwards I had pains in my stomach when I shot at goal, although I had been suffering from these before. It reached a point when the pains were greater than the enjoyment of playing. It was only when I was on the bench after being substituted that I was able to take stock of my goal and enjoy it."

Attacking approach
Polanski was turning out for the generation below in the UEFA European U19 Championship last summer, yet relished being handed playmaking duties in Germany's first match of the U21 edition. He said of the added responsibility: "I think I generally work more opportunities to shoot on goal when I play a more attacking role. I scored with my third attempt on goal which was satisfying and overall I thought the team played very well."

Shoot on sight
Polanski concluded: "Our coach told us before the game to try shots on goal from outside the area and that paid off. We watched videos of their games and saw that they play a very compact game which meant we had to attack quickly. We didn't do that in the opening 45 minutes but fortunately it paid off for us in the second half."