How Will Germany Handle the Loss of Dortmund Star Marco Reus Against Poland?

On Wednesday night Joachim Low would have most likely been sitting in a hotel room somewhere in Frankfurt, Germany, when the DFB's doctor called to tell him the bad news.

Suspicions were indeed true with regards to one of his brightest stars: Marco Reus has a hairline fracture on his big toe and is injured for Friday's game. 

Yet long before the news broke to the German media and Borussia Dortmund fans began to curse their luck, the World Cup-winning coach would have sat down and begun planning his tactics for the coming match all over again.

To call Friday's clash with Poland a "must-win" would be underestimating just how much Germany's current reputation and future success truly counts on this match. If Low's side fail to win in the Volksbank Stadion, then they will almost certainly wave goodbye to first place in Group D. 

Alas, the importance of Reus—a striker who has scored six goals and made one assist in just seven games according to Transfermarkt—would have been truly pivotal. Sure, Germany have an astounding amount of talent in their first team and even more in reserve, but can they replace the Dortmund forward so easily?

Fans of the world champions would at this point quickly sit up, clear their throats and simply state that they won a World Cup without him. Not only that, but Reus has indeed been fit for only four of Germany's 10 games since winning the coveted prize in Brazil last summer.

Despite his obvious talent and importance to Low when fit, this German side is, in fact, quite used to making up for the loss of the blond-haired wiz on the wing.

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Low confirmed soon after the injury on Thursday morning (via DW Sport) that he wouldn't be calling up a replacement for the injured star, instead looking within his squad for the talent to step up against this toughest of opponents. 

As things currently stand, with the players that Low has called up for this match and the clash against Scotland on Monday, we may see a similar front line to the one that failed so spectacularly in the opening clash with Poland back in October of last year.

That game involved Andre Schurrle coming in to play on the left, where Reus would play, while Karim Bellarabi took up a spot on the right wing and Mario Gotze played through the middle behind Thomas Muller. 

However, Schurrle hasn't exactly had a fantastic nine months since joining Wolfsburg and has, in fact, only played two games this season. The German international may still feature on Friday, but it's more likely that Low will go with someone with a little more fitness.

Alternatively, Low could move Gotze out wide and bring another attacking midfielder such as Mesut Ozil into the central role, yet the Bayern star hasn't exactly been on form for the past year. He may have won his country the World Cup, but this talent has still to truly shine on the international scene with any consistency. 

What will mostly likely happen is that Low will go with the tried-and-tested method of playing Lukas Podolski on the left wing. The former Arsenal forward may have long since passed his best years on the pitch, but still the German manager sticks by him like a loyal dog. 

Whether fans would trust or indeed prefer Podolski, there's no denying he's a favourite of Low's and stands just as much chance of starting on Friday in place of Reus as any other forward. We await to see who the world champions bring in for the injured left winger.