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Soccer-Group leaders Germany confident of unhinging Scotland

FRANKFURT, Sept 5 (Reuters) - World Cup winners Germany were brimming with confidence ahead of Monday's Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland in Glasgow that could see them book their ticket for next year's tournament, after also beating rivals Poland 3-1 on Friday to take control of Group D. A win against Scotland, combined with a defeat for Ireland against Georgia, would see the Germans open up a seven-point gap to the third-placed team with two matches remaining and secure a top two finish and ticket to France next year, a completely different situation from only a few days ago. The top two teams of each group automatically qualify with some teams who finish third going into playoffs. "The Scots lost (1-0) to Georgia and so at home, if they want to have a chance of qualifying, they must invest a bit more in attack," Germany coach Joachim Loew said. "So we don't expect to have such a defensive opponent as with Poland." The Poles lurked on the break but ultimately had to buckle under German pressure with two goals from Mario Goetze and one from Thomas Mueller. The win boosted the Germans' confidence after a shaky qualifying start following their World Cup win last year and a shock 2-0 loss to the Poles in Warsaw 11 months ago. "We succeeded with a series of combinations and a great positioning game to beat them," Loew said. "We will remain equally focused in Scotland and win that game as well." The Germans could arguably now have a somewhat easier task with their next opponents desperate for points, leaving them more space than teams usually do against them. More space for Germany means a faster passing game, with the fullbacks also acting as a second pair of wingers to add punch to their attack, just like Jonas Hector and Emre Can did it against Poland. Cologne defender Hector was involved in two of the three goals. "We wanted to take that risk with our fullbacks operating high so as to stretch the Poles out because normally they are good at shutting down the centre of their defence," Loew said. Scotland, needing points from this game to maintain their slim hopes of advancing, have their work cut out. The Scots are fourth in the group on 11 points with Ireland third on 12 ahead and second-placed Poland on 14. The Germans lead with 16 points. "We still need to be a bit more stable," scorer Mueller told reporters. "We should not make so many individual mistakes. We must keep working at it." (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)