Reuters Soccer Blog

Germany doing just fine without Ballack

Germany captain Michael Ballack was in the stands to watch his team lose 2-1 to Australia in a friendly on Tuesday, the first time he was present since their World Cup quarter-final win over Argentina last year.

He was in no mood for any chats with reporters, opting to sit back and watch the game, surely knowing that his own international career is quickly drawing to an end.

The last time the 34-year-old Bayer Leverkusen midfielder played for Germany was in March last year against Argentina when he won his 98th cap. An ankle injury meant he missed out on the World Cup in South Africa and a shinbone injury in September ruled hin out of the first half of the current Bundesliga campaign.

German media have speculated about the player’s possible return to the team but as much as Ballack would like to get another, last, shot at a major title at Euro 2012, it looks highly unlikely that this will happen.

It is not so much his form that keeps him from being recalled by coach Joachim Loew but rather how the young German team has learned to play without him. Fast, fluid, technically strong and with an enthusiasm and maturity that have won them a new generation of fans.

Ballack on the other hand seems to represent the previous generation: the one where hard work, discipline and raw determination earned Germany their fierce reputation as one of the most consistent and effective teams on the planet over a period of decades.

Whereas before Ballack was the ultimate alpha male in the team, the new-look Germany does not really depend on just one undisputed leader but enjoys spreading responsibility around despite the Australia defeat.

Tired footballers? Cutting pre-season tours would help

Critics said the World Cup lacked quality because the players were tired after a long, draining season.

Yet with the golden glow of Spain’s triumph still glistening in a Madrid trophy cabinet, clubs are already hawking their players around the world for pre-season friendlies. OK, those who reached the latter stages in South Africa are still on holiday but they will be back very quickly to join team mates who began their pre-season work at the start of July.

This means soccer is a 12-month game. Yes, the pre-season tours may bring in funds to the clubs but are the amounts so massive that it is worth risking your players’ condition for the forthcoming campaign?

Top players are paid obscene amounts but their careers are short and they hardly get any time to have holidays. In England, a player will often not get more than one day off in a row between July and May.

They are compelled to take holidays in the summer break and are then dragged away from their families again to be tired out in the U.S. or Asia on what are effectively promotional tours where the results mean nothing. Their break is so short that few will lose their underlying fitness and most would much rather play a couple of friendlies in their home patch before the season.

It is not even as if the friendlies give new signings time to settle. Most big buys happen late on in the transfer window and players are often thrust into a new team for the first league game of the campaign with no prior practice with their new colleagues.

Smaller nations scratch around for friendlies

Like so often in the modern game, arranging international friendlies is much easier if you happen to be a big and powerful footballing nation.

While this week offered three lucrative and prestigious friendlies — Brazil-Italy, Spain-England and France-Argentina — smaller countries were left scratching around for opposition.

Paraguay, who despite playing at three successive World Cups seem unable to attract the promoters, ended up visiting Peru, a country they have already met twice in just over a year in World Cup qualifying matches. That followed a tortuous journey to Oman for a game last November.

In other games, Uruguay visited Libya while Colombia hosted Haiti.

Costa Rica, who beat Honduras 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday, often struggle to find friendly opponents.

They desperately want a fixture ahead of their visit to Mexico for another World Cup game at the end of March. The Mexicans, on the other hand, have already fixed up a game against Bolivia on March 11 in the United States, where they can be guaranteed a sizeable crowd of expatriates.

There’s only one Michael Ballack..

Like political pundits on local election night, football reporters can’t help reading too much into the results of international friendlies.

Pretty much the least interesting thing about England’s error-strewn 2-1 win over Germany in Berlin on Wednesday was the result, but there was food for thought in the performances of two under-strength teams.

1. England seem to bat quite a lot deeper than they used to, with a number of the players coming in doing good jobs. Barry and Carrick easily won their midfield battle with Rolfes and Jones, while Wright-Philiips was probably the best player in the pitch. Time for the Gerrard-Lampard partnership to be definitively retired?

2. England have never been short of confidence in the ability of their players as individuals, but what seems to be developing now is a collective confidence, which showed itself in the patient way they exercised control in the first half. (more…)

Another meaningless friendly? Well, not quite…

Germany’s friendly against England at the Olympiastadion later on Wednesday will have the feel of a B international, given the absence of so many familiar players.

England are without Beckham, Gerrard, Rooney, Ferdinand, Heskey, Owen and a couple of Coles, and Theo Walcott has now joined the injured list. 

Germany are without four of their best known and most experienced players from the World Cup and Euro 2008 in Ballack, Lahm, Frings and Lehmann.

My colleague Martyn Hermann takes a look at the whole issue over on our main website. Martyn says the friendly has been rendered “almost meaningless” by the absentee list.

I think the qualifier “almost” is a pretty important part of that sentence.

I agree it’ll be pointless reading much into the result, but playing this sort of match at a venue like Berlin’s Olympic stadium is always a worthwhile exercise.

As Fabio Capello said at his eve-of-match press conference, it will be very interesting to see how the newcomers take to one of the more intimidating stages in European football.

Vlog on the pitch – Have England sunk to a new low?

A Steve McClaren tribute band. Wasters. Shapeless, aimless and hopeless, tactically chaotic and technically stunted, a mess from start to finish.

These are just some of the examples of the stinging criticism dished out by the tabloids after England’s turgid performance in a 2-2 friendly draw with Czech Republic on Wednesday.

Fabio Capello has a reputation as a tactical master yet still Steven Gerrard is shunted out on the left. Wayne Rooney runs all day for the good of the team but has he lost that bit of magic that made him a boy wonder?

In the video above, vlogonthepitch host Owen Wyatt talks to David Beckham before mulling over yet another drab England display with Pedro Redig. Let us know your views.

Lippi’s back but same Italian frailties remain

Watching a rudderless Italy at Euro 2008 was like having my teeth pulled out.

Wednesday’s 2-2 friendly draw against Austria in Marcello Lippi’s first game back in charge since winning the World Cup was less painful, but serious problems persist.

Gone are the days of a rock solid Italian defence. Sure Fabio Cannavaro is still injured having missed the stuttering run to the Euro quarter-finals, but even he is not the player he was.

Fellow centre back Giorgio Chiellini, Italy’s sole success story from June, is crocked for their opening World Cup qualifiers against Cyprus and Georgia next month. That leaves Andrea Barzagli, who now plays in Germany with Wolfsburg, as an almost certain starter despite being at fault for both Austria’s goals.

At the other end things are still not right either. Former coach Roberto Donadoni was obsessed with a three-pronged attack in the run-up to the Euros but as soon as the Azzurri lost to Netherlands in the opening match he ditched it.

Lippi reinstated the trident on Wednesday but Alessandro Del Piero is still not suited to the left hand side. Both Italy strikes were own goals, even if the first was charitably credited to hit-and-miss forward Alberto Gilardino.

The midfield was average to say the least.  

Time up for ‘futile’ friendlies

My colleague Zoran Milosavljevic was enthused about Wednesday’s batch of friendlies but not everyone was so impressed. Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger both pondered the death of the international friendly after the midweek ‘action’ and they were not alone.

Other than the dramatic 4-3 victory by the Dutch, who had been trailing 3-0 to Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria, Wednesday’s games were a poor advert for mid-season international football with many players coming back injured — much to the annoyance of their club managers.

Ferguson did not hold back when asked what he thought of the matches after Darren Fletcher returned injured from helping Scotland draw 1-1 with Croatia.

“It was a bad blow with Darren Fletcher, which to me just emphasises the futility of playing these friendly games. It’s crazy. We have lost him for six weeks now… It’s crazy and supporters will stop going to these kind of games anyway, paying all that money and travelling. I think every manager knows, deep down, that they are a waste of time.”

Wenger added this:

“I’m scared that in the modern game, there is no room any more for friendly internationals. Not because countries take our players, just because people will not be interested in that anymore. There is nothing at stake. People want to see competitive games. Maybe I’m completely wrong but is it in the long term organisable for people to travel and spend their money to watch this kind of game? I’m not sure.”