Forget favourites tag, says Germany's Gomez

GDANSK, Poland (AFP) –

German striker Mario Gomez gives a press conference at the media center near the Dwor Oliwski hotel in Gdansk, Poland, on June 15. Gomez brushed off the growing Gomez-mania building up back home and insisted Germany still have much to do if they are to confirm their status as one of the Euro 2012 favourites.

Striker Mario Gomez brushed off the growing Gomez-mania building up back home and insisted Germany still have much to do if they are to confirm their status as one of the Euro 2012 favourites.

Despite Group B wins over Portugal and Holland, Germany face Denmark in Lviv, Ukraine, on Sunday needing a point to be sure of both topping the group and reaching the quarter-finals.

Should they finish as Group B winners they would play their last eight match at Arena Gdansk, near their base here.

Having scored the winner against Portugal, Gomez scored both goals in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Holland and despite a growing wave of support for the Bayern Munich star, the 26-year-old said nothing has yet been achieved.

“We have the chance to watch German television, we have a good supply of newspaper, I’m getting text messages and SMS messages, which is nice,” said Gomez, whose face features regularly on German newspapers and sports magazines.

“But it shows once again that there only seems to be black or white in this game.

“The aim is for us to be European champions, not for me to be the top scorer.

“The situation is anything but rosy, we haven’t won anything yet, we have created a good starting point, but we are nowhere near the quarter-finals.

“Let’s just get the third game out of the way.”

A much-maligned figure in Germany, this is the first major tournament where Gomez has maintained his impressive club form for the national team.

After stinging criticism leading into the Dutch game, Gomez admits he felt obliged to score against Holland to prove his critics wrong.

“Criticism is not always water off a duck’s back, I spoke to the coach and he told me to forget about it and told me not to let it get to me or throw me off balance,” said Gomez.

“It makes it easier to go through the bad days.

“In the first few minutes, you feel a lot of pressure and that you are under observation.

“You maybe don’t play as freely as you want to.

“We beat Portugal and I thought support would be coming from all quarters, which unfortunately wasn’t the case, so I answered my critics again.”

With pre-tournament favourites Holland on the verge of a first-round exit after two defeats, Gomez said any talk of who will lift the Euro 2012 title is futile with so much football still to play.

“Holland were on everyone’s list, but now they have lost twice they only have a minimum chance to go through,” he said.

“It shows pre-tournament talk of favourites lead to nowhere.

“At the end of the day, there will be two teams in Kiev on first of July, no matter what we say here.”