Team Talk / Nik Wardle / 28 May 2008 / Leave a comment

Nik Wardle feels Germany's chances are seriously hindered by the absence of a world-class striker despite the squad containing the names of Klose, Podolski and Gomez. How they could do with a certain Jurgen Klinsmann...

At the 2006 World Cup, it appeared as if Jurgen Klinsmann's charisma alone transformed Germany from a sterile side to arguably the most enjoyable side to watch in the tournament. His leadership baton may have now passed to Joachim Lowe but by-and-large Germany's performances have been good since the handover. The defence is fairly stable, there's lots of energy in the midfield, they have a goalscoring midfielder in Ballack - but it's up front where I feel Germany could do with Klinsmann the player.

Germany's three European Championship wins is a record. One ongoing record they'd love to end is that they've not won a tournament European Championship match since winning in England in 1996. In the six games since, they've only scored three goals. With their group consisting of Austria, Croatia and Poland, I'd be surprised if they didn't at least double their tally of goals at the last two tournaments. I expect them to progress through to the knock-out stages (and are at just [1.15] to do so) but against the very best of European opponents in the latter stages, I fear their lack of a top quality centre forward may be their undoing.

Klose will undoubtedly lead the line. He's got a one-in-two scoring record for Germany with 38 goals in 74 games and won the Golden Boot at the last World Cup. Despite this, I still consider him to be significantly behind the likes of his club mate Toni and Spain's Torres in terms of being a threat.

Many of his tournament goals have come against weaker opposition, such as doubles at the last World Cup against Costa Rica and Ecuador and three against Saudi Arabia in 2002. It's true that every goal counts but it's his lack of goals in the crunch games that would concern me if I were Joachim Low. Great attacking players score vital goals at vital moments in the latter stages of competitions and Klose doesn't yet have that on his international CV. His move last summer from Werder Bremen to Bayern Munich has bagged him three trophies but he lagged far behind Toni in the scoring stakes. He's the current third favourite for Top Goalscorer at [12.0].

Klose's club mate Podolski should be one of the freshest players in Austria/Switzerland, as he's spent most of this season on the bench. His lack of appearances means he's only scored 10 times this season, half of Klose's total and a third of Toni's. His lack of exposure this season may hinder his chances of being Klose's preferred partner. He has a better than one-in two record for Germany, with 25 goals in 46 games, and is at [27.0] to top the scoring charts. It would be difficult for any side to defend against his pace and it could be argued he poses an even greater threat than Klose.

Kuranyi ([70.0] for Top Goalscorer) and (Super Mario) Gomez ([22.0]) have both been consistent scorers in the Bundesliga over the past couple of seasons. However, neither made much of an impact in the Champions League with Schalke and Stuttgart respectively this season. Kuranyi appeared to run out of form towards the end of the season and so Gomez is the more likely to challenge Podolski for a starting place. Youngster Helmes had an impressive season in Bundesliga 2 with Cologne and has been included in the provisional squad, but is a likely contender to be cut.

Low likes to play a 4-4-2, with the full backs pushing on and creating much of the width, so this German side (or The "Mannschaft", as they're called: https://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=137) should create chances. The main four strikers they have in their squad are 'takers' of chances, rather than 'makers', so much relies on others putting chances on a plate for them. I strongly favour them to get out of their group but am unsure if they have the cutting edge to overcome teams such as Italy and France. If they had a striker in the mould of Klinsmann, I'd agree with their current status of being favourites to win Euro 2008 at [5.2], but without such a player I'd be more tempted to bet on Italy or France.

Tags: Euro 2008 betting, Germany football, Klinsmann