"And we have the self-confidence to say we will do that. "We want to qualify as soon as possible for next year so we can prepare properly through the season and be successful next year." Germany tops the group and could guarantee their place in Russia with two wins if Northern Ireland drop points to either San Marino or the Czechs.

And Loew also told reporters the wide selection of possible players was a "great gift. That also means of course that, potential talent and performances shown so far are not a free ticket [to Russia]." Loew added that the coming season would see the "hardest competition" to make his pool during his time as coach.

"A team that wants to develop further definitely needs competition," he said. "If you want to win the tournament again as reigning world champion, you need a super performance from every single player." Germany won the Confederations Cup in summer with a virtual B-team and also lifted the under-21 European title. "Some are amazing talents but still have to improve themselves," Loew said.

"There is still a big step towards being world class." Serge Gnabry of the winning group from the Euros and 17 members of the triumphant Confed Cup squad now form the pool alongside the returning World Cup winners Thomas Mueller, Mats Hummels, Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira and Mesut Oezil, along with Mario Gomez. "Every player must feel the competition, even if they are a World Cup winner," Loew told the Stuttgarter Zeitung paper.

"At the end there are 23 places in the World Cup squad. The established players also know: they always have to go to play to the limit of their performance to stay in the team.

" Others such as Manuel Neuer, Marco Reus, Mario Goetze, Andre Schuerrle, Benedikt Hoewedes and Shkodran Mustafi will also expect or hope to be involved again once fully fit or their club futures are settled beyond the transfer window. Loew did, however, offer his backing to forward Mueller who has so far found himself on the bench for Bayern Munich.