Germany Will Dominate Group of Death

Germany can overcome the challengers in Group D but who will join them in the knockout stages?

The old power is today’s power
In the past it’s been easy to over-rate Germany’s chances of impressing in major tournaments. For a decade they lived off the success of the 1990 World Cup and 1996 European Championships before they finally started making some early exits in major tournaments. Through all that however Germany has managed to always make it through the group stage of the World Cup and over the past four years has rebuilt itself as a force on the world stage.

The legacy of Voller and Klinsmann no longer haunts the modern German line-up. Now it’s Schweinsteiger and Podolski who look set to make a mark on the biggest stage of all. This team is built to come through in the clutch and won’t fear any ‘Group of Death’ in South Africa.

A fast start means nothing
In a group like this the standard logic is that teams which start off well are best placed to survive and progress to the knockout rounds. This is a special case however as Australia could, at least in theory, lose two games and still enter the final round of games in with a chance of qualifying. Realistically I think the Socceroos need at least a point from the first two games but it isn’t unthinkable that Germany could take six points from the first two sets of game with Ghana and Serbia only picking up three each. A more likely scenario would see all the teams be off the mark entering the final phase of games, with Australia picking up at least a draw in one of its opening two matches. Keep the tight nature of this group in mind when making any decisions regarding World Cup betting.

The final shake-up
This one is going to the wire. Germany will be on the verge of making the knockoyt rounds after two games. If Bastian and his buddies need something out of their tussle with Ghana however it will be bad news for the four-time African champions. I expect Germany to, deliberately or not, do Serbia and Australia a favor by taking Ghana out of the equation. This might not go down too well in the Boateng family as brother Jerome (Germany) and Kevin-Prince (Ghana) look set to feature in both their chosen nation’s squads.

Australia rode their luck in 2006 but this time the cards won’t fall their way. Nemanja Vidic will ensure Serbia play error-free Soccer and do enough to take second place and a spot in the knockout stages of the 2010 World Cup.

For the best World Cup odds as the countdown to South Africa continues check out Sports Interaction’s online sports book.