Australia’s first match at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be extremely decisive. The Socceroos will be up against three-time winners Germany in Group D. Luckily for the Australians, their opener might appear less difficult than it first seemed. LiveSoccerTV.com explains why.

Australia's Harry Kewell celebrating a goal with the rest of his mates.Australia have been assured of Harry Kewell’s presence

Australia have a great dependency on talisman Harry Kewell and his form ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup has been the fans’ major concern in the past few weeks. Now a good news has gone public. The Socceroos’ talisman will be fit in time to help Australia jump into the perfect train for an adventurous mission in South Africa – that’s what Coach Pim Verbeek declared. Speaking ahead of Australia’s friendly match against rivals New Zealand which will take place on May 24, the Socceroos boss confirmed:

 

“He [Harry Kewell] is not yet ready for the New Zealand game. I can tell you that straight on. He will be ready when we start the World Cup against Germany. That’s all that matters.

“I’m 100 percent confident that they [the medical team] can do the job and that Harry will be ready.”
Going further into details, the manager revealed:

“He had a morning training session; he had an afternoon training session, he was in the swimming pool at five o’clock in the afternoon, and he is training three times a day.”

Harry Kewell will certainly be successful in his race for fitness. His presence for the Australian national team against Germany will definitely elevate the hopes of Socceroos fans who dream about witnessing and upset.

Ironic: Germany have been assured of Michael Ballack’s omissionGermany's Michael Ballack suffers an injury.

Whereas Australia’s talisman Harry Kewell will certainly be fit enough to return to the squad, Germany’s influential captain Michael Ballack has been ruled out from the 2010 World Cup tournament. This bad news came as an enormous blow to the coach, the entire German squad, and the totality of German supporters. Michael Ballack has been Germany’s true leader for years now.

He led his team to win bronze during the 2006 World Cup and he was also an inspiration during the 2008 European Championship where Germany finished second behind eventual winners Spain.
Unfortunately for Ballack, he picked up a heavy injury on May 15 while playing for Chelsea in the final of the FA Cup against Portsmouth. Now the reason why Ghana may favor Australia is because Michael Ballack’s unfortunate injury was caused by Kevin Prince Boateng, a Ghana Black Stars player.

Many are speculating about the incident, branding it as a total conspiracy and a case of revenge between Boateng and Ballack. Either way, the reality is that the Socceroos of Australia could be the ones smiling at the end of the 90 minutes against Germany in South Africa.

 

(Read this article “2010 World Cup: Germany Captain Michael Ballack’s Injury, A Ghana Conspiracy” to better understand the last two paragraphs of this article.)