Germany

Confederation: UEFA (Europe)
Head coach: Joachim Loew
Captain: Philipp Lahm
Group: D


Germany’s team has been plagued by injuries for the tournament. The biggest loss is Michael Ballack. Love him or hate him he is a gifted player and was Germany’s leader and playmaker. Without him they will need another midfielder to come to the forefront to fill his role. The likely replacement will be Mesut Oezil or Bastian Schweinsteiger who both have the same vision and unlike the ageing Ballack have speed and good dribbling.

The highly rated Rene Adler who was going to be there first choice keeper is now out with a rib injury which is a loss. In November 2009 prior first choice keeper Robert Enke committed suicide. His death was a massive shock to the squad and it now could provide motivation to spur on the team in his memory. Even without these 2 keepers they are still quite strong in goal with Neuer likely to start.

They have a young squad with an average age of 25. Their main strength is attack. With players like Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski they will be a constant threat in front of goal. They both have good international scoring records averaging around a goal every other game. Additionally Klose only needs 6 more goals (to add to his current tally of 10) to take over from Ronaldo as the World Cup’s highest ever goalscorer. Their main weakness is defence. Their centerbacks are slow and will be caught out by quick strikers.

They should easily qualify through their group which includes Australia, Ghana and Serbia. After that it depends on who they have to play and how the team performs without all of their injured players. They have won the World Cup 3 times before and always reach the latter stages of the tournament. They probably won’t win the tournament this time but can you ever count out Germany?

Goalkeepers: Joerg Butt (Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Schalke), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen).

Defenders: Dennis Aogo (Hamburger SV), Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Jerome Boateng (Hamburger SV), Marcell Jansen (Hamburger SV), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Serdar Tasci (Stuttgart).

Midfielders: Sami Khedira (Stuttgart), Toni Kroos (Bayer Leverkusen), Marko Marin (Werder Bremen), Mesut Oezil (Werder Bremen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV).

Forwards: Cacau (Stuttgart), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Cologne).

Chris Guest