FIFA 2010 World Cup: Germany's Oliver Bierhoff Says No Captaincy Issue Between Ballack and Lahm
It seems that the German team has finally been hit by a controversy and many would say that it is about time. The German team’s manager has not reported in response to the scandal starting from their captain’s poor comments over the German captaincy; that there is no issue between Michael Ballack’s departure from the World Cup due to an injury or between the current captain Phillip Lahm.
The German team’s manager, Oliver Bierhoff has stated there are no chasms created between the two players with or without the statements made by Lahm over the Die Maanschaft’s captaincy.
The Bayern Munich defender told that he will like if he could stay as captain even after the original and injured Ballack returns in the team. This apparently caused a rift in the team and the team was about to break in divisions but the situation was quickly diffused.
Bierhoff explained that there was no division in the team and when the team was training in Italy, the Chelsea player Ballack had actually taken out time from his vacations to meet the team at the training site before heading off for Miami. He stated, “There is no dissent whatsoever, not even a hint of conflict. It's not the case, Ballack visited the team in Sicily before the tournament and it was always agreed that he would visit for the quarter-final”.
An exuberant Ballack was seen at the Argentina match, bouncing up and down despite his injured leg after Germany brought down Albiceleste 4-0. Ballack who surprisingly did not receive a renewal contract with Chelsea has joined his former club Bayer Leverkusen.
Ballack departed from Durban after the incident making the situation much more awkward as the comments by Lahm came just after that but the manager Bierhoff stated that the timing of the incident was nothing more than bad luck.
While talking to media the coach claimed, “It is an unfortunate coincidence that Ballack's departure and Lahm's statement coincided. He felt good and had excellent physiotherapy, luckily his injury is healing surprisingly fast, he needs a lot of rehab now, he needs special facilities and a lot of time”.
It was thought that without the veteran midfielder, Ballack, it would be very hard for the German team to win but their coach Joachim Low picked out a fantastic team, consisting of old and new with perfect understanding and the each department full of talent.
The German team has so far had an outstanding World Cup campaign with just a loss against the impregnable Serbian team. They opened their account with a 4-0 haul against Australia and defeated the quarter finalist Ghana with a 1-0 defeat. They then obliterated England 4-1 and then the Argentineans 4-0.
Their midfielders Sami Khedira, Mesut Oezil and Bastian Schweinsteiger have hardly let the absence of Ballack felt. Their manager stated in reference to Balalck’s recovery, “It emerged that Michael didn't want to take out any resources from the team. He knew that if his rehab was to proceed he needed more time from staff, he decided that it was better to continue treatment in Luxembourg”.
On the Lahm issue Bierhoff clarified that the German team promoted the freedom of speech in the team and stated that this allows everyone and to clearly express thoughts and no back biting takes place. He also told that this way if there were any reservations against a person in the team they were easily resolved.
The manager stated, “We have freedom of speech in the team and need players willing to speak their mind. It is rather like when a player says he is disappointed to be left out - are you supposed to be annoyed that he is disappointed? In the end, it is the coach who makes the decision over who is captain”.
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