If head coach Raúl Lozano’s charges stand victorious Saturday, superstar Jochen Schöps and his teammates will become the first team ever to qualify for the World League in this inaugural year of qualifiers that have featured four challengers — Germany, Egypt, Mexico and Iran — and Venezuela and Japan, the two incumbents who finished last and second-to-last, respectively, in the 2009 edition of the World League.

The Germans are fresh off their appearance at the European Championships in Izmir, Turkey. On late Monday night the team gathered in Riesa in preparation for the upcoming clashes with Venezuela.

The two matches will cap a successful summer for the Germans. Their first scalp came in the European League, where they stunned European Champion Spain 3-2. Germany followed that up with victories over Finland and Belgium to achieve a main target for the season: qualification for the 2010 World Championship.

Later they advanced from the first round of 2010 World League qualifiers (twice beating Mexico in straight sets) and finished a satisfactory 6th at the European Championship. Despite not qualifying for the 2011 European Championship with a 4-2 win-loss record, Germany took solace in the fact that both their losses came at the hands of the eventual finalists, Poland and France.

But before they can sit back and reminisce about their achievements this summer, the players still have to find the energy to deliver the goods against Venezuela.

It will not be an easy job. The South Americans are known as a very athletic team that really enjoys playing. They are also an experienced team that have honed their skills against the world’s top teams in the World League over the past few years.

However, in the last edition of the World League, head coach Jose Gutierrez’s men could only muster a single win against Finland. After that they lost eleven matches in a row against Poland, Brazil and Finland, which is why they are now playing Germany for the right to remain in the elite men’s competition.

Schöps is optimistic about the matches: “Even though the summer has been long, I think physically we are still in good condition. Lozano knows exactly what we have to focus on in training.

“I don’t know anything about Venezuela because we have always concentrated only on the next event at hand, and recently that meant we were focused on the European Championship. But I think Lozano has collected some material and we will start to study it today,” Schöps continued. “We have the possibility to win and all of us want to play in the 2010 World League. Accordingly, our will to win is very high.”

The team in Riesa will consist of the same 14 players who played against Mexico in the first round of 2010 World League qualifiers and at the European Championship. Venezuela has a roster of 12 players.

Team Germany: Patrick Steuerwald, Ferdinand Tille, Eugen Bakumovski, Max Günthör, Sebastian Schwarz (alle Generali Haching), Georg Grozer, Marcus Böhme, Markus Steuerwald (alle VfB Friedrichshafen), Robert Kromm (Verona/ITA), Georg Wiebel (z.Zt. ohne Verein), Jochen Schöps (Odintsovo/RUS), Simon Tischer (Piräus/GRE), Björn Andrae (Valentia/ITA), Dirk Westphal (Taranto/ITA)

Team Venezuela: Delvi Yustiz (Yaracuy), Jorge Silva (Regatas san Nicolas), Luis Diaz (Modena/ITA), Pedro Siso, Juan Carlos Blanco (Karava), Ronald Mendez (Bolivar), Ernardo Gomez (Toyoda Gosei/JPN), Carlos Tejeda (Almeria/ESP), Thomas Ereu (Taviano/ITA), Francisco Soteldo (Lara), Enderwuin Herrera (Episcopal), Freddy Cedeno (Teneriffa/ESP)