By Oliver Trust
BERLIN, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- After a goalless friendly against England, Germany coach Joachim Loew might have thought about a colleague, namely Manchester Cities Pep Guardiola.
The Spaniard is not known to be a particular fan of the German national team, but the 46-year-old turns out to be a supplier or outside assistant for 57-year-old Loew to prepare for the 2018 World Cup.
But why does Guardiola play such an essential role for Loew tuning up his team to defend the 2014 World Cup title four years later?
In fact, Guardiola is unintentionally supporting Loew. While the Citizens ride the wave in the English Premier League, two of his German employees gained quality and are a primary reason for the side's success: Leroy Sane and Ilkay Guendogan.
The 21-year-old Sane stands for youthful nonchalance and is one of the best European footballers in man-to-man duels, and Guendogan stands for unique passing quality.
Loew only has 21-year-old RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner who has a similar pace at his disposal, and he depends on Sane and Guendogan when it comes to increasing speed in his forwarding game. Speed makes winners, Loew told his coaching staff.
UEFA called Sane "the most exciting talent in Europe", former German international Michael Ballack is convinced that Sane is on the way to be one of Germany's key performers, and Guardiola considered Sane a specially gifted player and one of Europe's football attractions.
However, both Sane and Guendogan had to go through tough times. 27-year-old Guendogan recently returned to action after a 12-month injury break, while 50 million deal Sane (from Schalke 04) was far from helpful for Guardiola when he joined the Citizens in 2016.
"I can say it was Pep Guardiola who made me a better footballer. He completely changed my game. He is responsible for my improvement on all levels," said Sane, "He is the one who helped me most to get over the problems when I joined the club."
The Essen-born young striker was regarded to be arrogant and selfish, and teammates complained about hi tattoo on his back showing himself celebrating one of his goals.
Guardiola kept telling Sane to think about his deficits and develop the confidence to work on it, and Sane delivered eight goals and seven assists in 17 games for Manchester this season.
And Loew now is benefitting from Guardiola doing a brilliant job. "He has what not many have: Creativity, speed, guts and imagination. We are very happy to have him around," Loew said in advance of Germany's upcoming friendly against France next Tuesday in Cologne.
Gelsenkirchen-born Guendogan under Guardiola developed into a serious competitor to German midfield teammates such as Sami Khedira (Juventus Turin), Mesut Oezil (Arsenal), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Sebastian Rudy (Bayern Munich), Mario Goetze (Borussia Dortmund) and Emre Can (Liverpool FC).
"The most important thing is to stay in shape and avoid injury. Then I am convinced I will be a candidate for the starting eleven," Guendogan said, saying he currently feels to be only at "70 to 80 percent".
While Sane and Guendogan are waiting for Germany's next games, Loew announced that Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng will miss Tuesday's game against France due to muscle problems.
