GROUP D
GERMANY
FIFA World Ranking: 6
Team Colours: White shirts with black trim and a single gold vertical stripe, black shorts with white trim, white socks with black trim. Away kit is black shirt with white and red trim, white shorts with black and red trim, black socks with white trim.
Manager: Joachim “Jogi” Loew succeeded Jurgen Klinsmann following Germany’s third place finish at the 2006 World Cup and started well by guiding the team to the final of Euro 2008, although by coming second to Spain they fell short of Loew’s stated aim of winning that competition. He had also pledged to continue the attacking brand of football introduced by Klinsmann but has perhaps faltered a little from that compared to his predecessor. The snappily-dressed manager has been accused of disrupting squad harmony during the qualifying campaign by bringing in newer faces to spark internal competition.
Form: Germany were unbeaten in qualifying, comfortably taking top spot in their group by beating second-placed Russia 1-0 in Moscow in the penultimate match, and only conceded five goals during that campaign. Their pre-tournament friendlies have gone well, including a 3-0 win over Hungary and a 3-1 victory against Bosnia & Hercegovina who were impressive nearly men in qualifying. Their plans have been disrupted by the loss of captain Michael Ballack, though.
Captain: Stepping into Ballack’s sizeable shoes is 26-year-old right-back Philipp Lahm, who is one of only nine players in the squad with more than twelve caps. He scored the memorable opening goal of the last World Cup in the opening game against Costa Rica with an absolute pearl of a long-range shot, but is not usually known for his scoring. He can also operate as a winger, though, which tells you about his attacking ability. He is also a very solid defender, though, and will be a reliable player for his team. It remains to be seen whether he will take to the captaincy.
Key Man: It has to be the man who fills Ballack’s role in a positional sense, Bastian Schweinsteiger. He will be more familiar to non-Germany fans as the bustling wide player who lacked a little in end product from previous international tournaments, but in the last season Louis van Gaal has transformed the Bayern midfielder into a central player who can both win the ball and spray it around as a playmaker. He would have played alongside Ballack but will now be thrust into the spotlight as the most experienced midfielder by far and needs to translate his excellent club form into a talismanic performance for Germany.
Man to Watch: Germany’s midfield is highly inexperienced but it does contain a quartet of rapidly rising stars – it’s hard to choose between Stuttgart general Sami Khedira, who will likely start alongside Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos, the attacking midfielder who has impressed, scoring 1 in 4, on his now-finished 18-month loan to Bayer Leverkusen from Bayern, and Marko Marin, the Bosnian-born Werder Bremen winger, but the most exciting of all is Mesut Oezil, the 21-year-old also playing for Bremen who exudes the most natural finesse of all four. He’s very forward-thinking with a gifted left foot and an eye for goal. Of the four, he is most likely to dazzle for Germany this summer, but all four need to be ready for the big time if the decision to leave behind more experienced heads is to pay off.
Prediction: Germany’s problems are twofold – first is the astonishingly young and inexperienced squad, most obvious in goal where the first-choice keeper, Manuel Neuer, has just 5 caps which is as many as his two deputies put together. The second is up front, where Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Mario Gomez are all very much out of form and their backups have little international pedigree. At least Loew has six of them to play around with, but it may take too much time to find a successful combination. There’s no doubt that this Germany team is the most vulnerable one for many years, and they have been dealt a tough group. They should be relatively evenly matched with Serbia and it will probably come down to who can get the best results against the other two teams, and I suspect Germany may just edge that, but I can see a second-round exit looming against probably the USA.
Squad List:
Goalkeepers
1. Manuel Neuer (Schalke)
12. Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)
22. Hans-Jorg Butt (Bayern Munich)
Defenders
2. Marcell Jansen (Hamburg)
3. Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin)
4. Dennis Aogo (Hamburg)
5. Serdar Tasci (Stuttgart)
14. Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich)
16. Philipp Lahm, captain (Bayern Munich)
17. Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen)
20. Jerome Boateng (Manchester City)
Midfielders
6. Sami Khedira (Stuttgart)
7. Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)
8. Mesut Ozil (Werder Bremen)
15. Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg)
18. Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich)
21. Marko Marin (Werder Bremen)
Forwards
9. Stefan Kießling (Bayer Leverkusen)
10. Lukas Podolski (FC Koln)
11. Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich)
13. Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)
19. Cacau (Stuttgart)
23. Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich)
AUSTRALIA
FIFA World Ranking: 20
Team Colours: Yellow shirts with green sleeves and a white horizontal stripe across the chest, green shorts, yellow socks. Away kit is dark blue with lighter blue sleeves and a yellow horizontal stripe across the chest, dark blue shorts, dark blue socks.
Manager: Dutchman Pim Verbeek was assistant to Guus Hiddink at South Korea for the 2002 World Cup and was in the same post under Dick Advocaat in 2006, but took the Australia job in 2007 after Hiddink left it behind. He will be leaving it himself at the conclusion of the tournament to take up a youth development post with the Moroccan national side. Verbeek has been a vocal critic of the Australian A-League, frequently calling it out on its lack of quality and criticising national team midfielder Jason Culina’s decision to move back there from PSV.
Form: Australia were the second team not called South Africa to qualify for the finals, and did so just one hour after Japan, whom they eventually overtook in their group as they comfortably made it to the tournament. They were unbeaten in the final phase of qualifying despite one or two close calls, particularly against Bahrain where they were thoroughly outplayed but managed to sneak a 1-0 win. They looked poor in their lucky 2-1 victory over neighbours New Zealand and yesterday’s lacklustre loss to the US, though.
Captain: Lucas Neill moved to Galatasaray in January having spent 15 years in England. The 32-year-old right-back can be a little hotheaded and dirty sometimes but is hugely committed to the cause and has generally been reliable for his country. He is perhaps the most robust of the Australian defenders and will need to be on top form to keep Australia from being caught out at the back.
Key Man: Everton midfielder Tim Cahill is a level above the rest of the squad in terms of ability and if he doesn’t play well, Australia have little chance of escaping from this group of arguably more lethal death than Group G. His specialty is late runs into the box to meet a cross with his head, but has a good shot on him as well and plenty of energy to run a game at his tempo. He has a dazzling scoring record of 20 in 40 caps for the Socceroos. A little injury prone, though.
Man to Watch: The only other man who could potentially earn Australia points on his own is goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who at 37 shows no sign of declining following another outstanding season at the heart of Fulham’s European adventure and finding himself rumoured to be the subject of interest from Arsenal. Always solid and occasionally spectacular, Schwarzer could benefit from a group in which no team contains a world class goal threat.
Prediction: Australia should not be short of effort but do lack quality and strength in depth, particularly up front where their only three forwards are a one-trick beanpole (Josh Kennedy), a fading cripple (Harry Kewell), and a relatively untried winger (Nikita Rukavytsya). They need Cahill and Schwarzer to be on fire to stand a chance of getting out of this group, and the smart money says they should come last here.
Squad List:
Goalkeepers
1. Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)
12. Adam Federici (Reading)
18. Brad Jones (Middlesbrough)
Defenders
2. Lucas Neill, captain (Galatasaray)
3. Craig Moore (unattached)
6. Michael Beauchamp (Melbourne Heart)
8. Luke Wilkshire (Dinamo Moscow)
11. Scott Chipperfield (FC Basel)
20. Mark Milligan (JEF United)
21. David Carney (FC Twente)
Midfielders
4. Tim Cahill (Everton)
5. Jason Culina (Gold Coast United)
7. Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers)
13. Vincenzo Grella (Blackburn Rovers)
14. Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar)
15. Mile Jedinak (Antalyaspor)
16. Carl Valeri (Sassuolo)
19. Richard Garcia (Hull City)
22. Dario Vidosic (Nuremberg)
23. Mark Bresciano (Palermo)
Forwards
9. Josh Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus)
10. Harry Kewell (Galatasaray)
17. Nikita Rukavytsya (FC Twente)
SERBIA
FIFA World Ranking: 15
Team Colours: Red shirts with blue trim and a white cross on the front, blue shorts, white socks. Away kit is all white with red trim on the shirt.
Manager: Radomir Antic is very popular with the Serbian fans and has quite the impressive CV as well. As well as being one of only two men to have managed both Real Madrid and Barcelona, he is the only man to have managed those two as well as Atletico Madrid, where he enjoyed the most success of his managerial career, returning there twice and winning the league and Copa del Rey.
Form: Serbia finished top of their qualifying group despite taking just one point from favourites France, who stumbled elsewhere. They were at their most impressive thrashing Romania 5-0 to seal qualification but were cohesive and competent throughout and were eventually deserving winners. Their friendly results have been mixed – a shock 1-0 loss to New Zealand was followed by a frustrating 0-0 draw with Poland, but yesterday they produced an excellent display to come from behind twice to vanquish Cameroon, the sternest test of the three. Things may be coming together.
Captain: Dejan Stankovic is a highly accomplished midfielder who has won six Serie A titles and now the Champions League with Inter. A versatile player, he prefers to play in an advanced midfield role but can also be utilised on either flank or deeper in a holding or playmaking capacity and is a great passer of the ball. His experience and influence will be key for Serbia.
Key Man: It has taken some time for 29-year-old Milan Jovanovic to make a name for himself thanks to three unhappy years hardly getting a game for Shakhtar Donestk and Lokomotiv Moscow, but 52 goals in 116 games for Belgian side Standard Liege earned this deep-lying forward international recognition and a free transfer to Liverpool this summer. He will likely line up behind man-mountain Nikola Zigic with freedom to roam to the flanks if necessary and should be Serbia’s most potent attacking threat.
Man to Watch: Lazio left full-back Aleksandar Kolarov brings to mind Serbian legend Sinisa Mihajlovic with his runs down the left flank and rocket-propelled shot. Still just 24 years old, Kolarov has an impressive technique and should prove himself one of the best emerging defenders in the world game this summer.
Prediction: Serbia will surprise people. They have quality running right through the side with a reliable central defensive pairing of Nemanja Vidic and Branislav Ivanovic and Stankovic running things in midfield alongside creative 22-year-old Zdravko Kuzmanovic. They will be a serious threat and could be the ruin of a big name or two. I suspect they will meet England in the second round which should be a relatively evenly matched game, and really I wouldn’t know which way to call that one. If things fall into place a semi-final place wouldn’t be beyond their reach, but my gut says they will lose against England (though probably deserving to win).
Squad List:
Goalkeepers
1. Vladimir Stojkovic (Wigan Athletic)
12. Bojan Isailovic (Zaglebie Lubin)
23. Andelko Duricic (Leiria)
Defenders
2. Antonio Rukavina (1860 Munich)
3. Aleksandar Kolarov (Lazio)
5. Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United)
6. Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)
13. Aleksandar Lukovic (Udinese)
16. Ivan Obradovic (Real Zaragoza)
20. Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund)
Midfielders
4. Gojko Kacar (Hertha Berlin)
7. Zoran Tosic (Manchester United)
10. Dejan Stankovic, captain (Inter)
11. Nenad Milijas (Wolves)
17. Milos Krasic (CSKA Moscow)
18. Milos Ninkovic (Dinamo Kiev)
19. Radoslav Petrovic (Partizan Belgrade)
22. Zdravko Kuzmanovic (Stuttgart)
Forwards
8. Danko Lazovic (Zenit St. Petersburg)
9. Marko Pantelic (Ajax)
14. Milan Jovanovic (Liverpool)
15. Nikola Zigic (Birmingham City)
21. Dragan Mrda (Vojvodina)
GHANA
FIFA World Ranking: 32
Team Colours: White shirts with one grey sleeve with a dark grey star and black trim, white shorts, white socks. Away kit is red shirts with yellow vertical stripes and trim, red shorts, red socks.
Manager: Serbian Milovan Rajevac will lead Ghana into battle against his home country and the rest of Group D. He had only previously managed in Serbia and had not been in one job for more than two years before being hired in 2008. He is a strict disciplinarian who has earned a reputation as a shrewd tactician having overseen an impressive flawless qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations against a much-fancied Mali side, although Ghana’s second-round exit from that competition proper was less pleasing for the fans.
Form: In qualification Ghana were unstoppable, winning their group with a nearly 100 per cent record and becoming the first African nation (aside from the hosts) to qualify. They suffered a resounding 4-1 loss to the Netherlands in a pre-tournament friendly, though, and have had their preparations seriously disrupted by the withdrawal through injury of their best player, Chelsea’s Michael Essien, who will be a huge loss for them.
Captain: Stephen Appiah nearly hasn’t played at all at club level for two and a half years following a serious knee injury while he was at Fenerbahce that caused him to miss the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and only made his debut for new club Bologna as a substitute on the 9th of May this year. However he is still in the squad as captain, which has given some Ghanaian fans cause for concern as they would rather see a fit, regularly playing man starting games in a tough group against physically strong opponents like Serbia and Germany. Appiah does have plenty to give if he is fully fit, but he must be disadvantaged by his lack of game time.
Key Man: Michael Essien plays further forward for Ghana than he does for Chelsea, and so with him gone so is some of Ghana’s attacking prowess. The onus now falls squarely on the shoulders of Asamoah Gyan, the 24-year-old Rennes striker who has scored exactly one goal every two games for his country. He’s a powerful unit, strong and fast and able to keep on running and running, and will cause problems for defences.
Man to Watch: Dominic Adiyiah is a 20-year-old forward who earned himself a dream move to A.C. Milan after being an integral part of the Ghana team that won the 2009 Under-20 World Cup. He has scored 17 goals in just 16 games for the youth side and has been blooded recently by Rajevac with a view to having a similar impact in this tournament. He probably won’t start but could be a surprise package coming off the bench.
Prediction: The impact of Essien’s absence cannot be underestimated and it is made worse by suggestions that Sulley Muntari may not be fully fit in time for the opening game against Serbia a week today. Ghana can’t be counted out completely though, and should be reasonably competitive, but they should be overpowered by Germany and Serbia. A gallant third in the group.
Squad List:
Goalkeepers
1. Daniel Adjei (Liberty Professionals)
16. Stephen Ahorlu (Heart of Lions)
22. Richard Kingson (Wigan Athletic)
Defenders
2. Hans Sarpei (Bayer Leverkusen)
4. John Painstil (Fulham)
5. John Mensah (Lyon)
7. Samuel Inkoom (FC Basel)
8. Jonathan Mensah (Free State Stars)
15. Isaac Vorsah (Hoffenheim)
17. Abdul Rahim Ayew (El Zamalek)
19. Lee Addy (Bechem Chelsea)
Midfielders
6. Anthony Annan (Rosenborg)
9. Derek Boateng (Getafe)
10. Stephen Appiah, captain (Bologna)
11. Sulley Muntari (Inter)
13. Andrew Ayew (Arles)
20. Quincy Owusu-Abeyie (Al-Sadd)
21. Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese)
23. Kevin-Prince Boateng (Portsmouth)
Forwards
3. Asamoah Gyan (Rennes)
12. Prince Tagoe (Hoffenheim)
14. Matthew Amoah (NAC Breda)
18. Dominic Adiyiah (A.C. Milan)
Posted by George Ankers 
georgeankers.com 