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ENKE LOOKS TO TAKE HIS CHANCE
Enke - looking to impress for Germany.
Goalkeeper Robert Enke is looking to cement his place as Germany's new number one when a new-look side begin their 2010 World Cup campaign in Liechtenstein on Saturday.
Injuries have forced coach Joachim Low to name only half the players who appeared in the Euro 2008 final, with captain Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings, Per Mertesacker and Arne Friedrich all out injured.
Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has retired from international football so Hannover's Enke is preparing for his first competitive start, having only appeared in friendlies until now.
Enke admits this chance may not have arisen had Bayer Leverkusen stopper Rene Adler been fit, but he is determined to make the most of it.
"If Rene had not been injured, I don't know if I would have played or not," he said.
"You can never be certain of a position, but if you remain 100 per cent concentrated and don't weaken, then the chances are the coach will decide no changes are necessary.
"This is only the first small step and my performance has got to be right."
The Germany team is likely to include a host of unfamiliar faces, including defenders Serdar Tasci, who only made his debut last month against Belgium, and Heiko Westermann and midfielders Marko Marin and Piotr Trochowski.
Miroslav Klose, who will be captain, should lead the attack with Mario Gomez.
Liechtenstein coach Hans-Peter Zaugg may choose not to risk FC Vaduz midfielder Michele Polverino in his side.
Four days later, his side travel to Azerbaijan where they will be looking to come away with something and Polverino, who has been receiving pain-killing injections merely to train, could be rested in view of that game.
"If he can play, then that's fine, but if not, we will not force anything," admitted Zaugg in the Liechtensteiner Vaterland newspaper.
In the other game in Group Four, Wales coach John Toshack has tasked Robert Earnshaw with getting the goals to beat Azerbaijan in Cardiff.
The Nottingham Forest striker, who was not in Toshack's original party, will lead the attack in the Millennium Stadium.
Injuries to Craig Bellamy and Freddy Eastwood meant Earnshaw was called up late, but Toshack is now looking for him to deliver against Berti Vogts' men.
Toshack said: "Earnie will start. And I am aware of the fact that he has played three games in six days for the first time in two years.
"I have told him he needs to get a run of 10 games, something he has not had for a very long time due to injury and not being in the frame at Derby.
"But he knows he will be starting the match and he knows the onus will be on him to score the goals that give us a good start to the campaign."
Group Four is completed by Russia and Finland.
