German midfielder Michael Ballack claims that he will remain the first choice as captain
Michael Ballack, who has just recently transferred to his former club Bayern Leverkusen, has announced that he is still the captain of Germany; making him the number one preference over the current captain that represented Germany in the FIFA 2010 World Cup Philipp Lahm.
Germany acquired the number 3 spot in the tournament in South Africa while facing Uruguay who proved to be a tougher competitor for them than they expected. In the end the Germans did conquer over the Celeste with a 3-2 victory when Sami Khedira scored the winner in the last moments of the game to seal the victory.
The German team was the one of the youngest teams in the tournament and was actually Germany’s youngest team ever to be sent to the World Cup. The team also is one of the most diverse team in the tournament with players from different races, religions and backgrounds.
The Germans started off their journey in the World Cup marvellously with a stunning performance in the qualification phase. They were hit by a massive blow though when they got to know that they their skipper Michael Ballack was injured and ruled out of the World Cup because of a tackle made by Kevin Prince Boateng of Portsmouth during an English Premier League match.
Jerome Boateng of Germany has a half brother Kevin Prince Boateng and they both are originally from Ghana, though both play for different teams. With Ballack’s ankle injury proving to be serious many thought that the journey of the Germans had ended at that moment as Germany had no single player with the leading capabilities of Ballack. Also the presence of a strong central midfielder who knew how to destroy his opponents defence was one of the reasons for Germany’s progress which made him a vital asset for the team.
However when Germany entered the tournament and thrashed Australia 4-0 in the opener they indeed opened the eyes of their critics and hearts of their fans that were expecting a diminished performance from them. In an upset, they were beaten by a tough Serbian line up by 1-0 in the next match but they made their come back in the next when they defeated the hardened and rising Ghanaian team 1-0. At the end of the Group stage they finished top of their Group with six points while Ghana qualified too with 4 points and a second position.
In the last 16 stage they obliterated England in a controversial match. The Germans dominated the whole match and in the end produced 4-1 on the scoreboard. The Germans seemed to make it their habit to defeat their opponents with making four goals as in the quarter final against Argentina they humiliated them with a 4-0 victory. Next they progressed to the semi finals and after a tough encounter in which Spain countered their counter attack strategy the Germans invasion towards the Cup was finally brought to an end as the Spanish defeated them 1-0.
The inspiring thing about the German team was that they really stunned the entire world with their amazing performance and their traditional signature of extraordinary chemistry within the team. The talents of Bastian Schweinsteigerhttp://www.fifa.com/worldcup/players/player=196752/index.html Mesut Oezil, Sami Khedira and Thomas Muller made the whole world’s jaw drop as they proved to be the new “golden generation” of Germany. These new players really covered up the absence of Ballack commendably.
As Ballack returned from Germany a conflict about the captaincy arose, which revolved around if Ballack was still the true captain after Lahm stated that he would like to retain the position of captain after Ballack had healed and returned to the team. The Coach Joachim Loew cleared out the situation back then saying that there is no rift between the players and the team is encouraged to be open so there are no politics and back biting in the team. Loew also told that Ballack earlier met them at their training camp in Italy before leaving for his vacation in Miami after which he came for the final matches of team in South Africa and that was where the issue arose.
Ballack has stated on the issue, “This is no issue for me. I am the captain. A player can't request on what position he wants to play, and it is the same with the captaincy. One should respect this, there are hierarchies”.
On the comments made by Lahm, Ballack told, “It is not really serious, but we will touch the subject and then look ahead”. Ballack also congratulated his team mate who had just been married saying, “I congratulate him and wish him all the best”.
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