Pretoria Diary: Baby Lions and Bruised Thighs

June 25th, 2010 | by: Jan | View Comments

The English gave up their WW2 obsession and replaced it with penalty shootout angst. Germany is meanwhile more concerned with Bastian Schweinsteiger’s thigh muscle.

The team spent the morning going on a baby lion safari in a near-by wild animal park. Certainly a mere coincidence ahead of Sunday’s match against the Three Lions. About noon Jogi Löw and Philipp Lahm then answered pressing questions to the media. The most pressing question of all was, of course, the one about Bastian Schweinsteiger’s injury: “We can’t say whether Bastian Schweinsteiger or Jerome Boateng can play. Both are not training with the team at the moment. It’s more than questionable that they will play on Sunday, as you have to be fully fit for this match.” The potential replacement for Schweinsteiger will be Toni Kroos and Löw trusts his abilities. He also has confidence in Per Mertesacker, who has proven often enough that you can count on him in important matches. Asked about the England match, the history and the English team, Löw had the following to say: “The history speaks for itself. But a lot of our players weren’t even born, when some of the legendary games took place. I personally only have vague memories of ‘66. I have seen a couple of games (involving English players). I have always been thrilled by the pace of Chelsea or Arsenal. They are on a high level, especially when it comes to pace. The axis Terry-Gerrard-Lampard is top class. Capello has managed to discipline the team. Even before the tournament started I saw England as a top-favorite for the title. I find it OK when there are discussions between the coach and players. Capello is experienced enough to know, that this is all about improving the team. Terry is also always looking for the ultimate success. England has regained its’ confidence. They also have a lot of experience in international competitions. Both teams will go into the match with a level of respect. This will be the case for England as well, because they know that we are able to beat them. There won’t be fear. Neither by us or the English. Our team is young and ambitious, and players are fighting for their spot. This includes players who haven’t played yet. They want to get into the team at all costs. They want to stand their ground in the tournament.” Finally, asked about the Ghana match, and where Germany had to improve, he answered: “We started our attacks well, but didn’t finish them consequently enough. The precision in the passing wasn’t there. We have to finish better against England, otherwise we’ll lose the ball and risk counter attacks.”

Philipp Lahm was meanwhile a bit more optimistic about Schweinsteiger’s race against time, believing that he will play on Sunday. When asked about the match and where his team had to improve he answered: “The team has to play spirited and keep the ball. The team shouldn’t allow as many big chances as it did against Ghana. When going forward, the team needs to improve its’ passing and defense. But this isn’t about single players but the collective. It is a great football match for us. Every player can look forward to it but also needs to know that every mistake can be crucial. We are still developing as a team – that much is for sure. When England have the ball, we have to attack and close the space. We must try to shoot more from distance, although David James did well the past two games.” Lahm also expects more intense one-on-one situations compared to the ones with the petting zoo lions earlier today.

Per Mertesacker’s Poor Form: Arne Friedrich gave us a clue as to why Per Mertesacker has turned into such a rubbish defender recently. Asked about his colleague’s poor game against Ghana, Friedrich answered that Mertesacker probably wanted too much and wanted to follow Löw’s instructions too precisely resulting in many easy mistakes. Given how awful Germany’s defense has been the past couple of years it makes perfect sense, that following Löw’s instructions only leads to misery. Arne Friedrich meanwhile has proven at Hertha this season, that he is an expert in not following his coach’s directions.

WAGs: Wives and girlfriends paid the team a visit. The DFB team’s twitter account informs us, that Thomas Müller and his wife cruised around on a quad bike.

Referee: FIFA keeps it Latin American for Germany, as Jorge Larrionda from Uruguay will be the referee for the Germany vs England clash.

Ex-Captain: Michael Ballack will pay the team a visit, should they qualify for the quarter finals. His return to the Bundesliga has meanwhile been confirmed. He signed a two-year deal with his old and new club Bayer Leverkusen.

Final Training Session: For the third time in a row, Germany will have to find an alternative location for their final training session. To keep the pitch from deteriorating further, FIFA decided to not allow either Germany or England to train in Bloemfontain’s Free-State Stadium ahead of Sunday’s big match.