Tuesday, 2009-08-11
Meeting of old friends in Baku
The World Cup in South Africa will kick off in exactly ten months, and the final will be played in eleven months on this day. Germany's football fans are looking forward to the tournament and many of them hope for another summer as magic as the one in 2006, full of enthusiasm and joy. However, what gets often overlooked is the very simple fact that Germany haven't yet qualified for the World Cup. Even rather cautious fans, who are aware of this, seldom look beyond the big game in Moscow against Russia in October. And yet every single qualifier is potentially deciding - which also goes for tomorrow's match in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
In fact, tomorrow's game might be particularly important - since qualification campaigns are usually decided in favour of the team that doesn't drop points against supposedly weaker sides. Who would know this better than the Germans? They did beat Russia in a much-hyped clash in Dortmund last October, but they still aren't home and dry because they only drew 3-3 in Finnland a month before defeating Russia.
And of course there's another detail which makes tomorrow's tie special: Azerbaijan are coached by Berti Vogts (pictured), once German national coach himself. Ahead of the game, he points out that his players are the underdogs: "We don't have a true goal scorer. Against Liechtenstein, we were on the attack for 90 minutes and didn't find the net." He also says his team will help Germany later in the campaign: "Russia will be having a very tough game in Azerbaijan." However, if that's true ... then the Germans shouldn't have a stroll in the park, either, when facing Azerbaijan.
As regards the line-up for the game, which will kick off at 6pm CET, the national team's manager, Oliver Bierhoff, has revealed that Robert Enke will be in goal. Following Lukas Podolski's injury, most observers think Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose will play upfront. Michael Ballack, the side's captain, should start in midfield, now that he's overcome his toe injury. Ballack, incidentally, met up with the team and national coach Jaochim Löw only on Monday. The delay came about because Ballack missed his Sunday flight from London as the Community Shield game went to penalties.
Meeting of old friends in Baku
In fact, tomorrow's game might be particularly important - since qualification campaigns are usually decided in favour of the team that doesn't drop points against supposedly weaker sides. Who would know this better than the Germans? They did beat Russia in a much-hyped clash in Dortmund last October, but they still aren't home and dry because they only drew 3-3 in Finnland a month before defeating Russia.
And of course there's another detail which makes tomorrow's tie special: Azerbaijan are coached by Berti Vogts (pictured), once German national coach himself. Ahead of the game, he points out that his players are the underdogs: "We don't have a true goal scorer. Against Liechtenstein, we were on the attack for 90 minutes and didn't find the net." He also says his team will help Germany later in the campaign: "Russia will be having a very tough game in Azerbaijan." However, if that's true ... then the Germans shouldn't have a stroll in the park, either, when facing Azerbaijan.
As regards the line-up for the game, which will kick off at 6pm CET, the national team's manager, Oliver Bierhoff, has revealed that Robert Enke will be in goal. Following Lukas Podolski's injury, most observers think Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose will play upfront. Michael Ballack, the side's captain, should start in midfield, now that he's overcome his toe injury. Ballack, incidentally, met up with the team and national coach Jaochim Löw only on Monday. The delay came about because Ballack missed his Sunday flight from London as the Community Shield game went to penalties.
Monday, 2009-08-10
Thursday, 2009-08-06
Monday, 2009-07-27
Wednesday, 2009-07-08
Saturday, 2009-05-30
