German captain Michael Ballack talks up Australia

[TOPGUNJIMMYAUFC]

German captain Michael Ballack talks up Australia



December 15, 2009 02:30pm
GERMAN captain Michael Ballack says Australia will not be easy to beat in the group stage of the World Cup next year.

The 33-year-old Chelsea star played down Germany's chances of winning the trophy and said they would have a battle just to get out of Group D, which also includes Serbia and Ghana.

He told German soccer magazine Kicker: "We do not have the consistency or strength in depth in the squad.

"We have been too weak, particularly in friendlies, to be able to say we have the class to beat everybody else.

"You can forget about us having had the luck of the draw - we have a tough group and all three opponents are uncomfortable and physically very strong.

"We are going to have to put our foot down from the very beginning."

Germany's record in the World Cup is second only to Brazil's.

They have qualified for every one of the 16 World Cups and reached the last eight or better every time since 1938.

West Germany won the trophy in 1954, 1974 and 1990, while the unified country were runners-up in 2002 and third in 2006 when many Germany's next game before the World Cup is a friendly against Argentina in Munich on March 3.

[OldRedback]

Before we all get too excited and believe the hype and start thinking Australia can win this let's think about what else he was going to say and realise that this is the same as saying the standard 'there are no easy games in international football these days' - he's hardly going to come out and say "the soccerwhos aren't fit to lace our boots' is he?

[BADA BING]

Before we all get too excited and believe the hype and start thinking Australia can win this let's think about what else he was going to say and realise that this is the same as saying the standard 'there are no easy games in international football these days' - he's hardly going to come out and say "the soccerwhos aren't fit to lace our boots' is he?

exactly right, imagine the uproar if he came out and said the soccerwhos,

[DOC]

spot on, he is the german captain and best player, he knows how to use the media and said all the right things here, they wouldn't underestimate us but they would be quietly confident, they had an average qualifying but always do well at the cup

[Ronnie]

of course we will go into the game against germany as underdogs, but i see no reason why we cant sneak a draw or even a win. although being outplayed for the majority of games against the so called power houses of the game in recent years, we have some pretty good results. in pim we have a manager who knows how to gring results, and that is exactly what you need in a world cup.

[DOC]

of course we will go into the game against germany as underdogs, but i see no reason why we cant sneak a draw or even a win. although being outplayed for the majority of games against the so called power houses of the game in recent years, we have some pretty good results. in pim we have a manager who knows how to gring results, and that is exactly what you need in a world cup.

in the world cup you need goals, not classy goals but just goals, i think your right against germany sit back and counter and sneak a draw, then go out looking for 3 points against ghana, which if we get would almost secure qualification

[Cerveza]

dont you remember when we played brazil last world cup and they mentioned they had not even heard of any of our players before in an interview

[The Kop]

Sorry but where exactly does he talk up Australia????

Anyway, Germany wont make it out this group.
Ghana and Serbia.

[Chade]

Sorry but where exactly does he talk up Australia????

He doesn't. Some idiot at the Advertiser made up the headline.

[ozzie owl]

Still think we will struggle to get out of the group.

[Tomas Brolin]

Underestimate the Germans at your own peril. Only in Euro 2004 (or was it 2000) have they failed miserably. They are always around the mark. Serbia will underperform as always... they are the type of team that will beat Germany 2-0 and then lose 7-0 to Ghana.