the latest news about Ballack: "Ballack was the victim of a heavy tackle by Portsmouth's Kevin-Prince Boateng at Wembley, and while X-rays showed that no bones were broken, the extent of the damage is such that the German Football Federation has confirmed the midfielder will miss the World Cup. "National team captain Michael Ballack is out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This is the result of an MRI on Monday morning " "After the diagnosis of national team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt today, a complete healing of the injury is expected. Ballack's return to training is possible at the earliest in eight weeks." The news will come as a considerable blow to Germany coach Joachim Low, who was critical of Boateng's tackle on Ballack. "He had no chance of getting the ball and a foul like that can seriously injure a player," Low said. " -------------- I was so sorry to hear that Ballack will miss world cup 2010....it would have been probably his last world cup ...he was so looking forward to this.. Discussion: what does it mean for our national team now? From my point view it is big loss. He won first time in his career final game with Chelsea and he was so hungry to win titel in the world cup. It is big loss for our national team. For me as a big Ballack fan it is also big loss.
for German-speaking posters report and pictures from SPIEGEL: Ballack out of the world cup 2010: http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/0,1518,695133,00.html
F**k. I know Ballack isn't the player he once was, but to me, there is no one better from a tactical standpoint, reading the game and putting himself in a spot that minimizes vulnerabilities from the opponent's attack. Boateng's challenge should have been straight red when he stomped Ballack just above the ankle. The way the ankle inverted I had a feeling it was worse than what Chelsea indicated post-match. The pathetic, crappy Wembley pitch also played a part in this as Ballack's last step before Boateng stomped him was a partial slip due to the turf giving way leaving Ballack in a more vulnerable position.
We're screwed no doubt. Now we have the youngest midfield in the tournament, no experience except for Schweini and even he is playing in a new position.
very helpful information. I m not trying to be cocky but geez, I think I m not the only one in mood Now ******** off.
i am sure khedira or whoever is going to play for him will step up their game but as a leader all the experience he brought to the table he was irreplacable. the man deserved better =/
Watch us win the World Cup now. Terrible that he misses the tournament, especially considering it's probably his last one. Already an inexperienced team and one of the leaders missing. I don't think he will be as big a miss as some will think in here, but he's still the captain and that hurts any team.
Who is going to be the captain? We are lucky there are two good options in Lahm and Basti, I think either is ready for the challenge.
Schweinsteiger should be captain imo. Like I said before Lahm captain and Schweini vice-cap for Bayern, and vice-versa for Germany.
I was shocked and sad when I saw the headline this morning as the world cup needs the worlds best players and Ballack is one of them. It was a bad challenge and deserved a straight red. With that clown playing for one of Germany's group opponents could it have been pre-meditated..??
KP Boateng is a piece of sh*t. You don't tackle so recklessly in a Carling Cup game whatever that was. He should know better. Feel bad for Ballack because he misses out on the last major tournament of his career. That being said, I don't think we'll be that bad off. Ballack was never the fastest guy, and he's only been getting slower. His form this year has also been off. I think Khedira's ready for prime time. He and Schweini will do fine. Slot a Westermann or Traesch behind as a DM, and we'll be okay.
Very bad and sad new for Ballack and the NT It's a huge loss because he was fit recently and played well for his club Ballack and Schweini (in his current form) combo would surely have been great to watch at the WC Shocked !!!
Big loss, but I think Germany can get by without Michael Ballack. OK, there in a hole, but Schweinsteiger, Khedira and Träsch could get the job done. To be honest, I am more worried about Özil's no-show in the Pokal Finale last Saturday.
terrible news, I feel so much for ballack, what an unlucky lad. pains me even more knowing that we might not see him in the Mannschaft forever. might be even ironic if we did manage to win the Cup kevin prince is such a dick, deserves to be playing in the Championship next year
? I thought Ozil did alright, stringed some good passes and trickery as ever, but its hard to do anything against Bayern's pressuring. Anyways, this should be the big break for Khedira since Low will not do the unthinkable by recalling Frings
.............................Neuer............................ Boateng..........Merte.........Wester...........Lahm ....................Khedira........Schweini................ Marin......................Ozil......................Podolski ..........................Klose.................................
I can't blame Boateng. Of course it was an intentional foul (after what Ballack did before) but he didn't want to injure him. Bad luck Löw will probably play Lahm on the right btw.
Rudi Völler about Ballack: Germany's former manager, Rudi Völler, joined those bemoaning Ballack's loss. "It's brutal, terrible for Michael. He was full of optimism and wanted to play a good World Cup," he said. "There are players in the team who can't be replaced and Michael Ballack is certainly one of them ."