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Germany vs Ukraine - Germany forward Lukas Podolski staying focused on task at hand

Sunday, June 12, 2016 Source: PA

Germany forward Lukas Podolski insists he has not made a decision about his international future post-Euro 2016.

The 31-year-old became a dad for the second time on Monday and his own father recently said if he wins the European Championships he should retire to spend more time with his family.

Podolski, who was a runner-up in 2008 and semi-finalist four years ago, won the World Cup in 2014 and is only focused on adding the missing Euro title to his trophy cabinet.

"I know that he (his father) said that. We'll see - it's hypothetical," Podolski told dfb.de ahead of Germany's Group C opener against Ukraine.

"I haven't thought about it yet. I'm fully focussed on my tasks here and on the games that lay ahead of us.

"We all want to play a successful tournament and then we'll see what happens afterwards.

"In the end it's all about who wins the tournament. We are world champions, we have the quality in our team and we want to win.

"If we reach the final, play well but still lose then we can be proud of our performance, but if you lose, you lose, and we don't want that."

While Podolski is hoping for European Championship success at the fourth time of asking, midfielder Julian Draxler is looking to win it at the first attempt.

The 22-year-old was in Joachim Low's provisional squad for Euro 2012 but missed out on final selection.

He was in danger of missing out again this time after a thigh injury in mid-April but the Wolfsburg winger recovered in time to make the cut.

And with injury ruling out Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus he could be set for a start against Ukraine on Sunday.

"When I received the diagnosis I was down as it was said I'd be sidelined for six to eight weeks," Draxler said.

"But the very next day I was fully focused on getting fit again. I worked day and night.

"I think I performed well in our warm-up games but everything else will be decided by the manager.

"The team are definitely hungry. We know how good it feels to win an international title and of course we want to repeat that."

Ukraine assistant coach Andriy Shevchenko accepts his side may be anxious facing the world champions in their opener, but believes they are resilient enough to keep Germany at bay.

"In the first game some nervousness might play a part," he told euro2016.com.

"We understand what we are up against. Maybe we are a bit weaker individually so we have to be better collectively.

"We will try to build on our compactness, movement, tactical nous and fast attacks, which have always been typical for Ukraine.

"We have developed a certain style, and our opponents know it's never easy against us.

"We do not concede many, we always play with great commitment, and we have top players like Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka.

"We are going to give Germany a good game."

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