Wednesday, 26th May 2010
In an interview with German magazine Stern Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack is adamant that the German national team is under an immense amount of pressure and need to do well during the upcoming World Cup tournament in South Africa.
"It's terrible for a team when they can only enjoy a tournament from the semi-final onwards. Everything else would be a failure. So at the beginning all that matters is to prevent catastrophe."
The 33-year-old who misses out on a place in the World Cup squad due to a foul by Kevin-Prince Boateng in Chelsea's FA Cup final encounter against Portsmouth, is wary of Germany's strong opponents in the group stage. With Australia, Serbia and Ghana the Mannschaft has been handed a particularly difficult draw.
Ballack is convinced however that his team will show what they are made of: "Our team has a good mentality. [German coach] Joachin Löw will get the best out of them, I'm sure of that."
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