[quote author=gareth_thomas link=topic=40569.msg1118456#msg1118456 date=1276330020]
Germany are one of my favourites to win it.
They have a great deal of young extremely talented players that really want to impress on the highest level. Combine that with the massive amount of experience that some of the players have and its a perfect mix.
They all seem to get on very well and they have a young inspirational coach. ex players and national hero's seem to be supportive and say the right things at interviews.. They dont seem to have any pressure on them.. While Englands Pride are terrified of failure.
Goalkeepers: Germany seem to have a high number of very talented keepers and these 3 would easily make the England squad.
Manuel Neuer (Schalke 04)
Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)
Hans-Joerg Butt (Bayern Munich)
Defenders: Boateng is very impressive and a lot of large clubs are chasing him. Last thing i heard Spurs were very keen. Lahm is a quality player and has been one of the best fullbacks in the world for some time. His attacking game and defensive game are excellent and he has years of experience. International, club level and in Europe. Mertesacker is a beast in the air and very experienced. Badstuber has had a very good year with Bayern and has impressed me a lot when ive seen him... My only concern would be in the centreback position. The days of old when it could be argued that Germany had the best centreback pairings in the world are long gone.
Dennis Aogo (Hamburg)
Jerome Boateng (Hamburg)
Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin)
Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)
Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen)
Marcell Jansen (Hamburg)
Serdar Tasci (VfB Stuttgart)
Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich)
Heiko Westermann (Schalke 04)
Andreas Beck (Hoffenheim)
Midfielders: The lack of experience in the middle may cause them some problems. Having Ballack would have been a huge advantage. While they may lack a bit of steel in the middle they more than make up for it in the attacking department. Schweinsteiger, Muller, Ozil, Marin and Cacau are all creative and capable scorers. Ozil has been amazing this season and Muller has been a prominant player for Bayern. Cacau was scoring for fun during the season in an attacking midfield role. One thing about every single one of them is their long distance shooting.. its very impressive and with the world cup ball we could see a lot of long range goals.
Marko Marin (Werder Bremen)
Mesut Ozil (Werder Bremen)
Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg)
Sami Khedira(VfB Stuttgart)
Christian Traesch (VfB Stuttgart)
Toni Kroos (Bayer Leverkusen)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)
Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich)
Cacau (VfB Stuttgart),
Forwards: It will be interesting to see what formation Germany choose. Id probably play with one upfront as the talent available in midfield is excellent but they are VERY attacking minded. Gomez was signed for a stupid sum last year.. 19 million or something? He is big.. a pain in the arse for defenders and without looking classy still gets things done. Klose has been around for ages and his skill in the air is always something a lot of teams struggle with. Kiessling is a player i really like, he reminds me of a younger version of Roy Maakay. He scores a shitload. Tends to always be in the right place at the right time. At times his skill looks quite clumsy but at other times he looks like Torres on a semi decent day. Podolski.. Well, he is like a yoyo. Sometimes he can well and truely dominate and at other times he's useless.
Mario Gomez(Bayern Munich)
Miroslav Klose(Bayern Munich)
Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen)
Lukas Podolski (Cologne)
[/quote]
Gareth Thomas, take a bow son, take a bow.
Pesam- stick on the pointy hat and sit in the corner.
