World Cup Qualifier Preview: Germany v. Russia

Qualifier Venue and Date: Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund 11.10.08

Germany

Finalists of Euro 2008, third place finishers of the 2006 World Cup, this German team is a blend of youth and experience. The extremes of the field are dominated by Bayern Munich players while Werder Bremen, Schalke 04, and Hamburg players dominate the defence and midfield.

Germany may have drawn with Finland but the scoreline just proved how strong their attackers are. The goals conceded may have been due to the missing duo of Per Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder. This "never-say-die" team of the Germans may go on to lift the World Cup in 2010. Great things are expected from the youngsters.

Form Guide: Stand-in captain Miroslav Klose may have lost his touch in the Bundesliga but boasts a 100% goal record in the German Cup. he also has three goals in two matches for Germany—all coming in Helsinki.

Captain Michael Ballack, defensive midfielder Torsten Frings and central defender Per Mertesacker are all expected to make a comeback against the Russians. Christoph Metzelder however does not return to the squad due to injury problems, and also having fallen out of the starting XI at Real Madrid. Patrick Helmes and Jermaine Jones, along with Tim Wiese, have joined the squad.

Probable Starting XI:  Robert Enke; Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker/Serdar Tasci, Heiko Westermann, Clemens Fritz/Marcell Jansen; Bastian Schweinsteiger, Torsten Frings, Michael Ballack, Piotr Trochowski/Lukas Podolski; Miroslav Klose, Patrick Helmes/Mario Gomez.

Previous WCQ Results:

Liechtenstein 0 Germany 6

Finland 3 Germany 3

RUSSIA

Semifinalists of Euro 2008, Guus Hiddink's Russia showed plenty of promise in the Euros. They were very unfortunate to have conceded seven goals in two games against eventual winner Spain.

They also showed that players do not necessarily have to play in the EPL, Serie A or La Liga to achieve success. In fact all the Russian national team players play in the Russian league, with the exception of a few like Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spurs).

The domination of Zenit St. Petersburg in the UEFA Cup last season just goes on to show the quality of Russian clubs, especially after the 4-0 thrashing of four time Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, 5-1 on aggregate (I watched that match, Bayern could not have played more horribly!).

In 2010 the Russian side might go on to surprise quite a few critics at the World Cup.

Form Guide: Pavlyuchenko might be stressed out after joining Tottenham (much to his own confession). Otherwise the squad remains unchanged.

Probable Starting XI:  Igor Akinfeev; Alex Anyukov, Denis Kolodin, Sergei Ignashevich, Yuri Zhirkov; Konstantin Zyrianov, Igor Semshov, Sergei Semak, Ivan Saenko, Andrei Arshavin; Pavel Progrebnyak/Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Previous WCQ Results:

Wales 1 Russia 2

Prediction:  Germany will be stronger defensively due to the return of Per Mertesacker and Torsten Frings (I am sure they would want to avoid another defensive freak show after what happened in Helsinki). Russia may catch Germany on the counter attack, but don't expect the Germans to lose at home.

Final score: Germany 3 Russia 2