A Word from Rossonerogo

Dear readers and followers,

I had very early on predicted that this summer's World Cup finals would be disputed between Brazil and Germany, and that Germany would emerge as the eventual winners. As expected - albeit I was a bit surprised - I got a lot of stick for my seemingly outrageous prediction. Mind you this was a prediction I had made before Joachim Low had even announced his 30-man squad. Since then Germany has lost a host of player to injury, namely their iconic captain: Michael Ballack. I'll admit all these losses did worry me and I started second-guessing myself about the plausibility of my World Cup pick. Indeed Low refused to call up the experienced Torsten Frings and Shalke 04 striker Kevin Kuranyi in light of the injury crisis Germany faced. Frings could have been the appropriate figure head to replace the injured Ballack. Kuranyi could have alleviated a goal concern I had considering the poor seasons that both Germany's strikers, Podolski and Klose, have had. Even Gomez did not enjoy his best of seasons, mostly due to injury. Cacau, Kiessling, and Muller are thus the only in-form strikers in Low's side, but are all untested at this level.

Even so, Germany performed very well in their Group D opener against Australia. Yes it was against weaker opposition but the Germans' performance showed many positives however. The team moved well on and off the ball, passed crisply and incisively in midfield and crafted a number of dangerous chances on goal throughout the game. The team were methodical in their approach play, the interplay was good, and the passing almost telepathic in their ability to pick out each other's runs. It really was a true masterclass showcased by Die Mannschaft. Schweinsteiger dictated well the pace of the game, Ozil was a danger throughout, Lahm was his usual marauding self on the right flank, Neuer looked confident, and the defenders were solid throughout. The other positive were the goals for Podolski and Klose, despite the latter missing a host of early chances before heading the ball in from Lahm's cross at the 26th minute.

The red card to Cahill, it has to be said, somewhat marred our analysis of the true qualities and potential of this German side but it was an altogether comfortable and positive display. This team may be the youngest ever fielded in Germany's World Cup history (since 1930), but they showed real quality and composure. Their play was expansive, making great use of their width. There was plenty of power, pace, guile and trickery on display from this German team as well. Indeed it retains many of the battling qualities that German sides are known for and added much technical abilty from the new young additions that may have been lacking from recent German sides. In effect they played with great inventiveness in midfield and, as iconic German striker Jurgen Klinsmann stated, with great joy as well.

I look forward to seeing how this German team proceeds in their coming games and hope that they can secure qualification to the knockout phase with minimum fuss. In the mean time, as I had warned many beforehand, watch out for Germany playmaker Mesut Ozil who I am touting to be the star player of this German side and one of the great youngsters on exhibition in this summer's tournament.