2010 FIFA World Cup Preview: June 18, 2010

Germany vs Serbia

Germany’s Schweinsteiger was absent from training this week due to a head cold, and it looks pretty doubtful that he’ll be fit to play. This could cause quite the tactical shake up, seeing that there is no other holding midfielder in the squad to replace the absentee.

However, assuming this doesn’t cause a huge drop in the quality of Germany’s performance, they shouldn’t have any problems beating Serbia. After all, they looked sensational in their opening match and were in fact one of the most enjoyable teams to watch.

Serbia will be without Lukoviv, who was red carded against Ghana. The side will be lucky to pull any points from this game, and they don’t look all too likely to get through the group stages.

Interestingly, the Serbians set a new record when Lukovic was sent off; they’ve now had a player sent off in each of their last three games. And who knows, maybe they’ll make it four.

Slovenia vs USA

Slovenia has no injury concerns, and they should be playing an unchanged side from the one that beat Algeria. As it stands, they are at the top of the group, but whether they stay there for long is a completely different matter. England should beat Algeria without any real difficulty, but the Slovenes are by far the underdogs in this match up.

USA will be bolstered with the fact that Tim Howard will be able to play despite picking up a nasty knock from Emile Heskey when playing against England.

It is likely that the Americans will field the same line up that they did against England. After all, the draw that they picked up there did show the USA side in a good light. The USA have to win this match to escape an early exit from the World Cup.

England vs Algeria

England will be disappointed with the fact that they lost the lead against the USA, especially considering the manner in which it happened. Unfortunately, goalkeepers do sometimes make mistakes, so playing Algeria should be a nice way for them to get back into the swing of things and pick up some nice easy points. If they don’t win here, the team can pretty much kiss their World Cup ambitions goodbye.

There has been some good news for England though, and that is the return of Barry, who will be fit enough to play and looks likely to start.

Algeria will go into this match with a mentality of damage control. A point here would be brilliant, and a win would be pretty much unthinkable. It is quite possible that they will get the backlash of England’s humbling against the USA. Expect to see a lot of men behind the ball and some heavily defensive tactics.

Xavier - live scores and sports