To predict the outcome of a World Cup group based on its first round results would be foolhardiness; yet, one wouldn’t be considered too brash if they assumed that Germany are going to safely make it through.
While by no means the toughest group in the competition, Group G was always going to be an interesting one: Germany, Portugal, Ghana, the U.S of A. What made it even more interesting though, were the two first round results: Germany thrashed Portugal 4-0, while the US beat Ghana 2-1. Germany- Portugal was always going to be a fascinating fixture, and I’d be lying if I said I expected a rout. However, contrary to the outburst of praise for Germany and derision for Portugal/Ronaldo by fickle-minded individuals on social media, I honestly believe that the scoreline was a little harsh on Portugal; a soft penalty for the shirt-tugging on Goetze and a soft red card for Pepe (not the referee’s fault, though; Pepe’s reputation does precede him) did help the Germans’ cause to no small degree.
Where the Germans DO deserve undiluted credit though, is their effective defense; they did keep Ronaldo almost invisible for 90 minutes. Per Mertesacker, having recently concluded a season filled with consistently stellar performances for Arsenal FC, was a sturdy rock; and Hummels has anyway repeatedly proven his mettle on the international stage. Any questions that lingered over the reliability of Howedes at right-back (he usually plays at right center-back) and the effectiveness of Boateng’s skill at stopping Ronaldo were quenched with the final whistle.
And it is precisely in that department that Ghana face a problem; their defeat at the hands of the US was quite unexpected, but not as much as their defensive frailty was. The team looked like a shadow of the African heroes that almost entered the record books as being the first African nation to reach the WC semi-finals 4 years ago. This should take nothing away from the US team, though; Klinsmann has forged them into a tight unit, and they have put in some great performances on the road to WC qualification. Indeed, their upcoming clash with Portugal is one fraught with considerable interest for the neutrals.
Many questions were raised about Schweinsteiger’s absence in the game against Portugal, which many believed to be due to his fitness issues. However, coach Joachim Loew said that he was fit, but he had to undergo a medical exam “for insurance purposes”. Regardless, considering the superb job the midfield trio of Lahm, Khedira and Kroos carried out on Monday, Loew is unexpected to change that formula against Ghana.
The injury Mats Hummels picked up in that game is reportedly still bothering him, which means Loew is faced with two broad options: either get Shkodran Mustafi (who replaced him in the Portugal game) or Matthias Ginter to directly replace Hummels at Center-Back, or move either Boateng or Howedes into the center-back position, and use Kevin Grosskreutz/ Erik Durm as their wingback replacements. Considering the lack of experience Mustafi and Ginter have on the international stage, Loew is likely to go with the latter option. Thus, the Germany line-up may look like this:
The Ghanaian team has not had any major injury struggles since their US game, and is mostly expected to maintain the same line-up. This is what their line-up is expected to look like:
Considering the fact that Dempsey, Zusi, Bradley and co. were giving the Ghanaian defense a hard time, Ghana will have to considerably tighten their lines if they want to have any hopes of stopping the German blitzkrieg. Since neither Howedes nor Durm are particularly known for their marauding runs down the flanks, Opare and Asamoah may not have to worry about too many overlapping runs. However, the trio of Ozil, Kroos and Goetze have a habit of switching positions to confuse defenses, and Mueller is always a massive threat in the box. All in all, the Ghana midfield and defense have their work cut out for them.
One also feels that if Loew is to give legend extraordinaire Miroslav Klose a chance to score the two goals that will make him the highest goal-scorer in WC history, this is the game that he would be likely to experiment with. It will certainly be a treat to see his silken skills gracing the world stage for the last time.
If Germany were to win this game, there is more than a decent chance that they would top Group G. In which case, they’d face the second-placed team from Group H, which consists of Belgium, Algeria, Russia and Korea Republic. Predicting the standings of that group would be nothing short of pure conjecture at this point, but considering the fact that Group H is statistically one of the weakest groups of this edition, one can safely assume that Germany would love to make sure they face its second-placed team. Hence, expect Die Mannschaft to hold nothing back against Ghana.
