Germany
If they win the cup this time, the German national team will be adding a fourth championship in 15 World Cup appearances counting their victories in 1954, 1974 and 1990.
The Germans are banking on a repeat of a happy coincidence in 1974, when they hosted and won the World Cup after beating Holland 2-1 in the final in Munich. The Germans also emerged European champions three times in 1972, 1980 and 1996.
According to a Reuters report, Michael Ballack’s minor ankle injury will keep him out of Germany’s FIFA World Cup warm-up against Luxembourg on Saturday. The German Football Association said on Friday that Ballack had suffered nothing more serious than a strain in Thursday’s practice match at the hosts’ training camp in Switzerland. The playmaker will need three to four days before he can return to full training, however, and he will stay behind to work in the gym while Germany play Luxembourg in Freiburg.
FIFA World Cup hosts Germany are struggling to raise expectation levels at home after an unimpressive 2-1 win over Swiss club side Servette on Wednesday.
Goals from Chelsea-bound Michael Ballack and Gerald Asamoah gave Germany victory in their 70-minute friendly behind closed doors but assistant coach Joachim Low was fairly scathing of the performance.
“We played too deep and too square,” he said. “We couldn’t keep up with the tempo required and we didn’t have the freshness that they will have to have in two or three weeks.”
Germany will play friendlies against Luxembourg, Japan and Colombia before opening the tournament against Costa Rica on 9 June in a comfortable-looking Group A, which also includes Poland and Ecuador.
Poland
Bearing in mind they did not manage to claim the title at the World Cup, Poland national team were strong enough to make their presence felt in the six times they competed in the finals especially in 1938 when they lost against Brazil 6-5. They nevertheless finished third place twice in 1974 and in 1982.
Euzebiusz Smolarek heads for the FIFA World Cup finals seeking to emerge from the shadow of his father Wlodzimierz, a hero of the Polish side which took third place in Spain in 1982.
Euzebiusz, 24, grew up in the Netherlands and still struggles in Polish, but is now seen as a key attacking weapon for the Poles after netting regularly for Borussia Dortmund and the national team this season. ‘Ebi’ is chasing his father’s record of 13 goals in 60 games between 1980 and 1992, including strikes in both the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cup finals. By the end of April he had the first three in the bag. “Once you’ve played twice in the finals, we can start talking,” the older Smolarek told his son during a recent interview with national daily Gazeta Wyborcza.
Ebi began his football education under his father, but as players the pair are chalk and cheese, a fact underlined by a run of injury problems which kept him out of the last FIFA World Cup in 2002.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica national team did not only manage to win the Central American Cup in 1993 but also the CONCACAF crown thrice in 1963, 1969, 1989. In addition they were the CCCF champions seven times in 1941, 1946, 1948, 1953, 1955, 1960 and 1961. More on the international scale, they had been qualified to play at the World Cup since 1958 and reached the finals as well in 1990 as well as 2002. Their unforgettable record achieved was in 1946 when they beat Panama 12-0.
Costa Rica striker Paulo Wanchope told Reuters the Ticos will not be overawed by facing hosts Germany, Poland and Ecuador in their first round group at the FIFA World Cup finals. “That stage has already been passed in Costa Rica,” he said. “Many of us have a lot of experience in international play.”We are going to search for points from the first game against Germany. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing we have to find the maximum points to advance,” he said.
The 29-year-old Wanchope, who scored eight goals in the qualifiers, brushed off concerns over the knee injuries that have plagued his career. “In the World Cup qualifiers, I was the national team’s leading scorer,” he told reporters. “I’ve made many goals for the national team despite the criticism.”I don’t have to prove anything to anyone.”
Wanchope is Costa Rica’s all-time leading scorer with 43 goals in 67 games. He has already announced that he will quit the national team after the finals in Germany. The striker returned to play in Costa Rica the start of this year after a career in Europe and the Middle East that included spells with Derby County, West Ham United, Manchester City, Malaga and Al-Garafah in Qatar.
Ecuador
Ecuador national team only participated at the last World Cup in 2002, and this year would be their second appearance, yet who knows being new does not always mean that surprises may not occur.
Ecuador’s coach Luis Fernando Suarez told Reuters that his team can win without relying on any high altitude advantage. Playing at 2,800 meters above sea level in Quito, Ecuador has beaten South American giants such as Brazil and Argentina and have reached the finals twice in a row.
“High altitude is not the main factor,” Suarez told reporters. “If that were the case, we would have always qualified for the World Cup.”
“We have shown that we have a team that can play... and we will go far during this tournament,” said Suarez, a 47-year-old former defender from neighboring Colombia.
However, Ecuador may struggle to advance to the second round playing at a lower altitude in Germany. Ecuador won most of their home games in Quito and finished fourth in the qualifying round behind Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has been among the critics of their progress. Ecuador struggled on their debut in Japan and South Korea four years ago, when they managed a sole victory against Croatia and failed to make the second round. In their last four friendly matches, Ecuador have not played well outside Quito losing against Poland, Holland and Japan, and managing only a victory against Honduras.
