I honestly don't think Ballack's injury will impact Germany at all, he is not the same player from 4 years ago.

+1 about Griffiths - I think he deserved a call up. And good on him for having a spray - its better out than in. And now they are saying Ballack is out - give me some more 'schadenfreude'.

Great blog, but watch out about Billy Bragg refs, we don't want England mentioned too often. Not till we beat them in the next round.

And so it came to pass.

Of course the Germans have depth, which we don't, and any little bit helps.

My brother in law, who is going into surgery tomorrow for a back operation (nasty) thinks injuries to key players might decide this World Cup. I think he might be right. Fingers crossed for our boys, we can't afford to lose any of our starting 11.

Great blog Julia. And a Billy Bagg reference to boot!

Nikola's Serbian blog on worldcupblog is indeed excellent. I recommend it to everybody.

Yesterday's is on the team's first strip, which I think looks very good, although it makes me think of Denmark.

I just felt sorry for Ballack (even though he is no shrinking violet when it comes to questionable challenges.)

If we can't beat Germany with Ballack, we won't beat them without him either.

I think you're right though, he will play. At least they're not doing a MV and pulling the phantom broken ankle (Kruse) stunt.

Oh, I must admit I was hoping to see snippets of other bloggers saying bad things about our opponents. As for Griffiths the is a time and a place. If he's angry with Pim then he should tell him to his face. Not spit the dummy in the media. Still any publicity is good publicity.


What do you think about the FourFourTwo blog Watching The Defectives?
As Ballack hobbled off the pitch during Saturday's FA Cup Final I suddenly felt a strange chill in my veins.  It was the unmistakable icy thrill of pleasure tempered by an immediate rush of poiso...

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