Germany coach Loew keeps his faith in no-goal Gomez

Germany coach Loew keeps his faith in no-goal GomezCardiff, Wales - Beleaguered Mario Gomez will not be measured by goals alone but his overall performance in the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Wales, Germany coach Joachim Loew said on Tuesday.

Loew said he will field the VfB Stuttgart striker again in Wednesday's match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Gomez has not scored in 643 minutes and was jeered by the fans in Saturday's 4-0 win against Liechtenstein.

"I will judge him on determination and fighting spirit, not on goals alone," Loew said.

Loew met with Gomez on Tuesday "to see how he feels" and said that Gomez remained an important factor in the team despite the drought.

"He makes quite a stable impression. We know that we need him on the way to the 2010 World Cup and afterwards," insisted Loew.

The coach revealed that Gomez tortured himself by watching the entire Liehctenstein game again to see what went wrong.

Gomez, 23, has scored 23 goals for Stuttgart this season but has gone more than a year without scoring for the national side.

Unforgettable is his miss from point blank range at Euro 2008 against Austria. He should have been excused by a bad bounce the ball took, but the moment has haunted him ever since as he wasted many more opportunities to stop the rot in the Germany shirt.

Gomez said on the weekend he was surprised by the negative reaction of the fans on Saturday in Leipzig.

"Expectations of me are high, but I was nevertheless disappointed to be jeered so quickly. I hadn't experienced this before and it took me by surprise," Gomez said.

Loew will field him again, possibly remembering the fate of (currently injured) Miroslav Klose, who played a terrible match in the first game against Liechtestein but rebounded four days later with a hat-trick against Finland.

Loew also said that many other Germany strikers including Klose, and previously Oliver Bierhoff and Juergen Klinsmann went through long dry spells.

"All top strikers have been through such a phase in which they were unlucky. You often get out of such phases stronger," said Loew.

Goals from Gomez would sooth the player's nerves and could help Germany take another step towards the 2010 World Cup. But the Group 4 leaders have traditionally had a hard time against Wales, with the first meeting last year resulting in a narrow 1-0 win.

"Qualifying is like a marathon. There are stages where you have to fight your way through," said Loew.

Loew is expected to field the same starting 11 as against Liechtenstein. Marcell Jansen has caught a cold but Loew expects the SV Hamburg left back to be fit enough to play. (dpa)