Q'orianka Kilcher - german world magazine

22
2010 FIFA WORLD CUP
A Glance at the Teams
from Germany, the USA & Switzerland
GERMANY:
Second Place 2002, Third Place 2006 —
World Champion 2010?
1
Despite its inexperience in tournaments and the loss of captain
Michael Ballack, starting goalkeeper René Adler and midfield
strategist Simon Rolfes the German team – with an average age of 25
years the youngest World Cup team after Ghana and North Korea —
have the skills to successfully lead the DFB campaign “The Fourth
Star for Germany” to the World Cup trophy on July 11.
The main pillars of the young, dynamic, but largely inexperienced
team after the injury-related loss of Captain Michael Ballack are
Philipp Lahm (26), Sebastian Schweinsteiger (25), Per Mertesacker (25) and Miroslav
Klose (32). Philipp Lahm, who is replacing Ballack as team captain and plays as defender
on Germany’s most successful soccer club, Bayern München, is participating in the World
Cup for the second time after 2006 and is the player with the steadiest
2
performance.
Trainer Joachim Löw (50) has created a sophisticated master plan
for the World Cup — from preparation in both training camps in Sicily
and South Tyrol in the country of the current world champion Italy to
the real matches on the Cape. The team is to be presented to the
world as a good ambassador from Germany — not only on the field:
3 “I expect that we will behave ourselves appropriately
on and off the field. We represent 80 million
Germans.” Löw has long stepped out of the shadow
of Jürgen Klinsmann, whom he assisted at the 2006
World Cup in Germany. Thanks to his calm, fair, and congenial way of
dealing with celebrities and the media, the ex-center forward, who is still the
record goal scorer of SC Freiburg, has gained respect. “I don’t believe we are
among the top favorites like Spain, Brazil, Argentina,” says the Black Forest
native known for being a smart tactician.
4
“But we always have a good chance of becoming world
champions.”
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www.german-world.com Summer 2010
1 National Coach Joachim Löw
2 Michael Ballack before his injury
3 Top player Miroslav Klose
4 The new team captain Philipp Lahm
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• GERMANY
AT THE WORLD CUP
IN NUMBERS
World Cup Participation: 17 (55 wins,
19 undecided, 18 losses — 190:114
goals
World Cup Victories: World champion
1954, 1974, 1990
Second place: 1966, 1982, 1986, 2002
Third place: 1934, 1970, 2010
Fourth place: 1958
Quarter finals: 1962, 1994, 1998
Round of 16: 1938
Round of 32: 1978
Opponents in Preliminary Group D at the
2010 World Cup: Australia, Serbia,
Ghana
GW’s World Cup Tip:
Third place
RANKING OF SOCCER
WORLD CHAMPIONS
Brazil 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002
Italy 1934, 1938, 1982, 2010
Germany 1954, 1974, 1990
Uruguay 1930, 1950
Argentina 1978, 1986
England 1966
France 1998
www.german-world.com/ World Cup
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