Sami Khedira claims Germany 'will win the World Cup'

An unimpressed Sami Khedira brushed off a cheap Swedish publicity stunt on Thursday by insisting Germany would recover from their dismal start to become the first country to retain the World Cup for 56 years.

Germany are facing a make-or-break game against Sweden in Sochi on Saturday after losing 1-0 to Mexico in their opening match in Moscow. Mexico’s victory, coupled with Sweden’s win over South Korea, has left the world champions with no margin for error.

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A Swedish television reporter attempted to have a little fun at Germany’s expense by handing Khedira a couple of fake airline tickets during an interview on Thursday morning in mock anticipation of Joachim Low’s side being forced to catch an early plane home from Russia.

Brazil were the last country to retain the World Cup, in 1962, and Juventus midfielder Khedira responded to the prank by Expressen TV’s Ludwig Holmberg by calming declaring: “Thank you, but we won’t need them [the tickets]. We think we can win this game. I think we’ll need them. I think we’ll need them on the 16th July [the day after the final in Moscow].

“We know Sweden are tough when they play at their best but we also know that we have a strong team and we are sure we will win this match.”

Sweden midfielder Albin Ekdal later expressed surprise at Khedira’s bullish remarks and said they were determined to deepen the gloom around Germany. “Did Khedira say that?” he said. “It’s pretty nice to hear that they think so. It’s strange to say that just before the match. It would be sensational if we beat them. It’d be this year’s big failure if Germany lost and we would be celebrated to the high heavens.”

Germany’s players and management held a crisis meeting on Tuesday in which frank words were exchanged and they have also been forced to deny claims of a split in the camp between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund players, similar to that which occurred at Euro 2012.

Low is expected to resist calls to drop Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil but Dortmund’s Marco Reus is likely to come in for either Julian Draxler or Thomas Muller while Khedira is also sweating over his place, with Ilkay Gundogan and Leon Goretzka waiting in the wings.