WHAT a bump in the road is to most teams is an unmitigated disaster for Germany.

After all, this is a country which ripped up their approach to youth football after the 2002 World Cup because clearly it wasn’t working.

The Germans reached the final that year. Bayer Leverkusen got to the European Cup Final in the May. For most other nations, this would be their annus mirabilis.

Doing okay, even well, is not good enough for the second most successful country in terms of the World Cup, which means any defeat can feel like the end of everything. This was certainly true after a poor performance in their opening match meant they lost 1-0 to Mexico.

Should Germany lose tonight to Sweden, depending on the result between the Mexicans and South Korea – they can’t afford Mexico to win – the world champions would be out of the tournament after two games.

Joachim Low, the German manager, is under pressure. He and the players held a meeting the day after that defeat and by all accounts everyone was allowed to say what was on their mind.

The German media do not need permission to speak up and the talk over these last two days has been of Mesut Ozil, a supremely talented player but one who goes missing when things are not going well.

There is a groundswell of opinion that the Arsenal man, whose face betrayed his sombre mood in the last match, is a luxury this team can’t afford when there is so much to lose. Perhaps Ozil was in the mind of his manager when he spoke of what the champions must do against a tidy Swedish team in Sochi.

“The two most important weapons are energy and body language,” said Low. “That’s what I said to the team as well. It’s a World Cup of absolute dedication and passion. This is what we have to show.

“The team is physically in good condition. To process the painful defeat was not easy mentally. But we discussed everything and I have confidence in this group.

“The mood has improved a lot since yesterday. We worked up the defeat. We are still a team with extraordinary skills. We have to bring them to the pitch tomorrow. “

A plus for Low and his side is that Sweden suffered a setback on the eve of match after three players were struck down by illness.

Centre half Pontus Jansson, who started in the 1-0 win over South Korea on Monday, fellow defender Filip Helander and midfielder Marcus Rohden did not fly with the rest of the squad to Sochi on Friday after complaining of stomach trouble on Thursday night.

Janne Andersson, the Sweden coach, could really have done without this disruption, and the fear more players might be affected, as he prepared for a win which would send him through to the group stage

“I can only use the information we have right now but we have no one else showing any other signs of illness,” he said. “I expect they will join us (later) and I hope it will continue along the path it’s taking right now.

“You can’t be annoyed with the poor people who have stomach pains, it just happens occasionally and you have to handle it. We handled it with Victor Lindelof and we are doing it with this group now.

“I’m not annoyed, I’m way past that. I would have preferred everyone to be 100 per cent to fight but this is the situation.”

Sweden, who will start with Celtic’s Mikael Lustig, would be one of this year’s surprises should they make it to the knock out stage.

“I think hubris is probably what we’re least afflicted by,” said Janssen. “We know why we’re here, we have a well-earned spot here at World Cup. There have been no shortcuts, we worked very hard to get here and I can assure everyone there is no hubris in the squad.

“This is what you spend your entire life and career working towards. I can’t say I’m enjoying it, it’s a tough job but we can qualify by beating the world champions and that is extraordinary.”