Die Nationalmannschaft tomorrow face their first competitive game since beating Uruguay in the final of the third-place play-off in South Africa when they take on Belgium in Brussels in their opening Group A game.

"Of course the World Cup is still an issue," Klose told team.dfb.de. "(But) we are all clear that the World Cup is over and we must look to the future.

"We are facing a new challenge. We have to start the European Championship qualifiers against Belgium and Azerbaijan, two major challenges that we must successfully overcome, two games from which we want to take six points."

Philipp Lahm will wear the captain's armband, as he did in South Africa, but coach Joachim Low yesterday made the decision to stick with Michael Ballack, not yet considered fit enough for national team duty, in the long term.

"I don't think it's so important," said Klose. "For me it is crucial that a certain core of players for the team feels responsible.

"Everything else just distracts from what is our main task: playing good and successful football."

Manuel Neuer, meanwhile, has been confirmed as Low's number one goalkeeper.

Opposite number Logan Bailly believes the future is bright for Belgium.

"There is a new generation of players coming through," he said. "There are many new, young and good players here.

"In the last match against Finland, most players were 17-24 years old (with) many talented players from big clubs such as Ajax, Manchester City and Arsenal."

The group's other game tomorrow sees Turkey travel to Kazakhstan in Guus Hiddink's first competitive game in charge since defecting from Russia.

Neither side qualified for this summer's World Cup - Turkey finished third in their group behind eventual champions Spain and Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Kazakhstan's only points came from home and away wins over minnows Andorra.

The other two teams in the group, Austria and Azerbaijan, do not make their entrance until Tuesday.