D is for Deutschland
The draw for World Cup 2010 (South Africa!) is complete, and now we must wait for 6 months until the matches begin. But here at UF we are incredibly inpatient impatient, and have no fear of being proven idiots, so we are launching our Group previews. Who plays who, and where? Which players will we identify as vital to their country’s advancement only for them to be left off the roster in the next few months? Which country will we tab as the surprise of the group only to see them fail to earn a single point in the group stage?
Join me after the jump for generalizations, highly inaccurate predictions, and straight-up misinformation, won’t you?
The Fan’s Attic previewing Group D…many thanks to the previous writers for setting the template.
(All times EST)
Sunday, June 13:
Germany v. Australia; 10:00 AM — at Durban
Serbia v. Ghana; 2:30 PM — at Loftus Versfeld (Tshwane/Pretoria)
Friday, June 18:
Germany v. Serbia; 7:30 AM – at Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth)
Saturday, June 19
Ghana v. Australia; 7:30 AM — at Royal Bafokeng (Rustenburg)
Wednesday, June 23
Ghana v. Germany; 2:30 PM — at Soccer City (Johannesburg)
Australia v. Serbia; 2:30 PM — at Mbombela (Nelspruit)
Country: Germany/Deutschland (Die Mannschaft, Die National Elf)
Coach: Joachim Löw
Current FIFA ranking: 6
WC history: Three time champion, four time runner up; qualified for the last 15 World Cups, participated in 17 of 19 World Cups with only misses coming from the inaugural tournament it did not enter and one after WWI from which it was banned.
How they qualified: First in their group.
Players of note: Michael Ballack, Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Phillip Lahm. The German roster does boast of any of the top players in the world (Ballack used to be but is no longer) but the team has a deep reserve of good players in most positions.
Important notes: Robert Enke, a favorite for the German Goalkeeper number 1 position committed suicide in November. Michael Ballack is always the bridesmaid never the bride having finished runner up in the 2002 World Cup, 2008 European Championship, and the 2000 and 2008 Champions League.
Country: Australia (Socceroos, Aussies, Green and Gold Army)
Coach: Pim Verbeek
Current FIFA ranking: 21
WC history: Third qualification, best result was in 2006 when the Socceroos made the round of 16 only to go out on a controversial PK call favoring Italy.
How they qualified: First in their group.
Players of note: Mark Schwarzer and Tim Cahill. Apparently, Australia suffers from the same affliction of the US in that players with dual eligibility sometimes do not choose Australia. Most notable on the list is Christian Vieri who was raised in Australia.
Important notes: Kangaroos are found in Australia hence Socceroos. That’s all I have.
Country: Serbia
Coach: Radomir Antić
Current FIFA ranking: 20
WC history: This is the first qualification for Serbia. In 2006, the team was a combined team of Serbia and Montenegro.
How they qualified: First in their group.
Players of note: Nemanja Vidic, Neven Subotic, Branislav Ivanovic and if there is another it’s a good bet that their last name ends in a “c”.
Important notes: Serbia’s manager is one of only two men to have managed both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, and is the only manager to head the previous two and Atletico Madrid. Neven Subotic chose Serbia over the US.
Country: Ghana (The Black Stars)
Coach: Milovan Rajevac
Current FIFA ranking: 37
WC history: Ghana qualified for its first World Cup in 2006 and advanced out of the “Group of Death” ahead of the USA. The Black Stars only staved off death for one extra match as Brazil knocked them out in the first knockout round.
How they qualified: First in their group.
Players of note: It really begins and ends with Michael Essien, who is one of the top midfielders in the world. Essien came off with an injured hamstring. Other players of not are Sulley Muntari, John Paintsil and captain Stephen Appiah. Rajevac is a Serbian national so there will be plenty of stories about that come June 13.
Important notes: I loved Ghana’s World Cup 2006 uniforms with the subliminal print, but I know umlaut75 doesn’t like the subliminal prints. Like I care.
Group Prediction:
Germany
Australia
Ghana
Serbia
According to the average FIFA rankings, Group D is the third toughest group. But, the difference from the highest ranked team to the lowest ranked team is the second smallest behind group C. Germany is clearly the favorite but second place will be a real battle and any of the three could snatch second place. Australia matching up against England in the second round would make for great stories.
This group is even deathier than G.
Robert Enke, a favorite for the German Goalkeeper number 1 position committed suicide in November. Michael Ballack is always the bridesmaid never the bride
0_o
Mit Gott für Kaiser und Vaterland!
No kind of FIFA conspiracy to look at the fact that the two strongest African nations got absolutely f**ked in the draw? Ivory Coast gets Brazil and Portugal, while Ghana get Serbia and Germany. Oof.
>Players of note: Nemanja Vidic, Neven Subotic, Branislav >Ivanovic
The ONLY country where you would find Subotic in a top 3 serbian player list has to be the US. His first cap was about 6 months ago and hes way down the list of importance behind Milijas, Stankovic, Krasic, Zigic, Milovanovic, Pantelic, etc.
Let if go with Subotic, it was an easy choice if you are trying to further a european career. You get noticed playing qualifications against top euro teams, not against Trinidad, St.Kits and Haiti. Besides, Thomas Wrongen didnt want him in the U-20 team so seems to me when you have one side a federation which thinks you are too rubbish for the juniors and another that wants you on the senior squad, its not even debatable.
As for your rankings, name me the top 5 ozzie and Ghana players. Not even close.
As well as having better star players, the serb team is heavily based on the previous u-19-21-23 generation that finished top 3 in a couple of major tournaments a few years ago.
Germany can go either way. They can use the Enke loss as a catalyser or it could prove too big even 6months down.
This is NOT the classic german teams we have been used to. Too many personality clashes, too.
Australia? Please, Id worry more about Canada if they were in. Its not by beating the Fiji and Solomon islands that Im gonna be impressed.\
Deutschland über alles!
I still really like this commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx_-2Le8r4I
@feefye: subotic is a player of note to many of our readers so that’s why he’s included. As for oz v ghana, sometimes the team is more important than the parts. But as I said this is a very tough group and I think after Germany it’s a crapshoot. Any of the three teamscould advance.
I think this is the toughest group. Serbia will be good.
However, Essien>>>>(Milijas+Stankovic+Pantelic+Zigic+Krasic+Milivanovic+whoever the hell Serbia trots out there).
That being said, I’m sure glad Serbia isn’t grouped with the US. We’d get our rears handed to us.
feefeye fofum – have you been living under a rock, or are you just plain ignorant? Australia is now in the Asian confederation, so we don’t play Oceania nations anymore. Now, crawl back under that rock.
5 star Australian players, if you don’t follow football and can’t see 5 good players there, you either don’t know football or you’re blind. If you want to check Austrlaia out and make an informed opinion, perhaps youtube the last World cup matches, or for more recent the game against Ireland is a good one. Australia made it through a group that was at least equal in quality last World Cup, with Brazil, Croatia and japan. That can’t be discounted. The key players will be:
Mark Schwarzer – The goalkeeper with the most saves in the Premier League last season. Highly regarded in the Premier League, not so well known overseas.
Tim Cahill – Excellent goal scoring midfielder,, key player for Everton
Harry Kewell – Making strong comeback from injuries in the previous 3 years in fine form for Galatassaray, comes with huge reputation, almost singlehandedly made Leeds a force, though time at Liverpool was blighted by injuries, but also came with some fantastic goals which you can see on youtube
Mark Bresciano – Former top goal scoring midfielder of the Seriea A. Skilful but most useful for his finishing in the box, tends to get forward a lot with the Australian team.
Lucas Neill and Craig Moore – The Australian captain and the former Rangers captain, same defence pairing from last World Cup, and will be hard to crack.
The way I see the group, Ghana will be the dangerous one for Australia. Australia tend to cope with European style of play very well , but a more flamboyant style could worry them. Ghana is clearly the weakest defensively, but have got quality out of midfield. Serbia got plenty of star backs, but don’t have a lot of fluency going forward.
I think Germany will find this harder then they expect but go through. Serbia will probably pick up a couple draws, and I expect the game that decides it will probably be the one between Australia and Ghana.