Group D

Today looking at Group D and looks at what could be a very difficult group for all concerned

Germany

Three times champions Germany, the team that always has a nation that doesn't expect and become a nation that over exceeds. coach Joachim Low was Jurgen Klinsmann's assistant at the last world cup, bought in to supplement Kinsmann's attack mentality as a more talented tactician to help supplement Klinsmann's ideas. When Klinsmann stepped down after the 2006 tournament, Low took sole charge and has impressed greatly, beating England 2-1 at the newly opened Wembley and qqualifying for Euro 2008 in style, as one of the favourites, he guided the team to the final, only losing to current World cup favourites Spain 1-0.




(I have read that there are a lot of problems in Germany with football hooligans where they are actually being caused of Polish hooligans crossing the border to cause mayhem, talk about chickens coming home to roost)

So with this in mind, they have to be considered dangerous at the footballing event and a team England could well face in the second round.

The German squad will consist of players all playing in their native country, with captain Michael Ballack injured, it means Chelsea's midfield general (i think i got away with it but don't mention the war) won't make what would most likely of been his final World Cup. Defensively the Germans as ever are well organised and tough to break down, Werder Bremen#s Per Mertesacker already has 60 caps to his name at only 26 though Munich's Philipp Lahm is the same age and on 64. In goal they miss their number 1 choice Rene Adler of Bayer Leverkusan due to a serious rib injury which means between the selected three of Hans-Jorg Butt (Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Schalke) and Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen), the Germans are relying on goalkeepers with just 8 caps between them. (first choice would of been former Hannover player Robert Enke but his suicide on November of last year proves how sadly he is missed)

Attack wise they have plenty of options, Miroslav Klose has 94 caps to his name and 48 goals, that's more than 1 in 2 games, Lukas Podolski, 37 goals in 71 games, Mario Gomez 11 goals in 32 starts. Strong attacking options supporting in midfield through the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger of Bayern Munich and Piotr Trochowski of Hamburger SV. Overall, this is a team that can achieve and one bigger nations will be happy to avoid, expect a traditional strong rigid team that will be well organised and expect to do well. Without Ballack and that goalkeeping experience, they shouldn't go all the way......but then how many times has that been said about Germany?

Interesting fact, there are 1,300 beer breweries in Germany, making some 5,000 kinds of beer. German people are the worlds third largest beer drinkers after the Czechs and the Irish
National dish, sauerkraut (that was a German that was bad at losing), a finely shredded cabbage that is fermented through various means and has a long shelf life, looks rotten and tastes rotten to be honest

Australia

Australia, managed by Dutchman Pim Veerbek who was Guus Hiddink's assistant at South Korea in 2002 (who finished 4th), and took over from him for a year before becoming head coach of Australia in 2007. Competing in only their 3rd World Cup finals (only ever winning one game against Japan 4 years ago).

With a squad base from all over the world, including many from England, it's not hard to see them playing a flexible English style of football but who are the players to look out for?

In goal, it's easy to underline just how good a goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer is, reaching what is now the Europa League final with two unfancied sides in Middlesbrough and Fulham, his experience with 73 caps (4th most capped Australian of all time) shows he can be a tough player to beat on his day but at 37, it'll be interesting to see how he copes in such a major tournament.
Defensively they rely too much on Scott Chipperfield (Basel) and Lucas Neill (Galatasary), though good solid player, if one gets injured then frailties do begin to show.
They have a wealth of talent in midfield, working as hard as any team in the competition, most notably Everton's Tim Cahill who if fully fit will be a player to watch with Blackburn's Brett Emerton as the holding midfielder.
Attack wise is where Australia show their main weakness, no player in the side has scored more than 20 goals, Middlesbrough striker Scott McDonald has still to score in 15 games and they rely too heavily on Harry Kewell (who may still not make the final cut due to injury)
Expect the Australians to admirably hold out for as long as possible but in the final 30 minutes of games they can easily come undone but with passionate support they will be enjoyable to watch as they try to match the worlds best.

Expect Walkabout to push the Australian matches and as ever for football matches, a place to avoid from all the fake Aussies

Interesting fact, there are more than 150 million sheep in Australia and only around 20 million people.

National dish, barbecues, roast lamb, Vegemite, the lamington, take your pick (though i'd advise not to pick the Vegemite)

Serbia

Following 4 years in retirement, Serbian manager Radi Antic made a name for himself in Spain, managing both Real Madrid and Barcelona in his time there, now, at 61, he has taken charge of the team formerly known as Yugoslavia, Serbia qualified top of a tough group containing France, Austria and Romania.

The Serbians are a well organised team and their group games will be close to say the least, the games against Germany and Ghana in particular are mouth watering prospects.
In attack they have Nikola Zigic of Valencia, having scored 16 goals in 42 games and at the age of 29, he is very much a dark horse contender for the Golden Boot, with Ajax's Marko Pantelic and Zenit St. Petersburg's Danko Lazovic, this is a team that will threaten to score against any team, particularly at set pieces. The attack is mainly led by national captain Dejan Stankovic of Inter Milan and the ever improving Zoran Tosic of Manchester United, the team will fly at defences and create chances though the team have huge depth of strength in defence, arguably one of the best defenders on the planet, Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic, assisted by the likes of Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic and Real Zaragoza's young full back Ivan Obradovic, they will be hard to get past but if attackers do, and this is the Serbians real weak point, in goal they'll most likely find Vladimir Stojkovic, who wasn't even first choice goalkeeper when on loan to Wigan Athletic last year. It's because of this that Serbia aren't being touted as potential World Cup winners.
Interesting fact, Serbia is a landlocked country, no beaches, no Navy, less chance of drowning
National dish, cavapci'ci, consisting of grilled heavily seasoned mixed ground meat patties.....basically sounds like a burger

Ghana

Ghana are a team ranked 13th in the world by Fifa, that should show how much is expected of them, especially on their home continent, ably managed by Serbian Milovan Rajevac who led Ghana to the 2010 African Cup Of Nations (losing 1-0 to Egypt in the final)

What i find interesting is the match against Serbia, moth nations managed by a Serb and where Serbia have Wigan's third choice goalkeeper, Ghana have their reserve keeper in Richard Kingson.

With vast experience in defence through Sunderland's John Mensah (62 caps), Fulham's John Pantsil (58 caps), Roda JC's Eric Addo (45 caps) and Bayer Leverkusen's Hans Sarpei (28 caps), Ghana play as a good strong defensive unit but their real strength is in midfield, Chelsea's Michael Essien is one of the best midfielders in the world, with Inter Milan's Sulley Muntari (though his relationship with Ghana has been rocky at times) beside him, this is one tough midfield to get through. In attack, Asamoah Gyan has scored 19 in 38 games with NAC Breda's Matthew Amoah making a formidable front two.

Interesting fact, shop names in Ghana enjoy names like 'Anointed Hands Cake Decorating', 'Ask The Lord Beauty Sleep', 'Jesus Lives Radiator Shop' and my personal favourite, 'God Heals Fast Food'

National dish, jollof rice, basically chicken with rice, like a healthy KFC, remeber, God heals fast food

This group has to be the closest of all the groups, 4 teams that can genuinely beat each other on their day and to maybe say Australia are the weakest team shows how competitive this group is, expect close combative games and a surprise or two