Germany thrashed Portugal, 4-0, in a game in which Cristiano Ronaldo, albeit not fully fit, managed to do very little. The Germans, while highly effective, were not exceptional on the day. Thomas Muller scored three goals; however, Muller was allowed the time and space to do so. On previous occasions, for Bayern, the lanky attacker has often failed to find his range when faced with opposition which park the bus well and thus remain compact. This must have been on Jose Mourinho's mind when he made the following statement according to goal.com:
"I would like to see Muller up against a compact defence. That would test him. Portugal were far too weak. There are plenty of teams at this World Cup who defend far better, are much tighter and better organised."
One of Muller's fellow attackers had numerous chances to get on the board against Portugal but failed to do so. Mario Gotze, who played in the false nine role before for Joachim Low's Germany, without being all too affective, was allowed more breathing room on the wing. He will need to score if Muller cannot hit the target against Ghana. Gotze is willing to do so but he needs to be more clinical in order to be able to open his account in the World Cup. This is what he had to say according to goal.com:
"I had one good chance to score a goal [against Portugal]. I want to score against Ghana now. It won't be easy because the Ghanaians are under pressure and need to win."
In order to stop Muller and Gotze, Ghana will be keen to stop the supply of passes to them. They will need to overpower Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira (or Bastian Schweinsteiger) and Philipp Lahm in order to do so in midfield. Considering Ghana's slightly physical approach, they might be able to do so. If Ghana frustrates Germany, players like Kevin-Prince Boateng can step up and produce some magic. Boateng will be lining up against his brother, Jerome. Andrew Ayew does not believe this will cause problems though according to goal.com:
"It’s not the first time [at international level] he’s played against his brother, he had that experience four years ago. And he plays for Schalke, so he plays against him for Bayern, so it won’t distract him at all."
"When I play my brother, it’s something fantastic. It’s not often that players get the opportunity to play against each other at this level."
Finally, Germany has only won one game. They would do well to remind themselves that a second win is crucial. Otherwise, the first result will account for very little as Gotze alluded to according to goal.com:
"It was important for us to take those three points [against Portugal], but that was all. Our performance shouldn’t be overstated, as there were some things that simply went well for us. In some situations we were just lucky."
Joachim Low also agreed with one of his stars according to goal.com:
"It will be a game that they think is a final. If they don’t win, they probably won’t go through to the next phase, so they will fight and will fight to the end."
"They are strong and are very fit. They like playing forwards. They have many players who play at well-known clubs. Even in high temperatures, they run for 90 minutes."
"We must be stable and have a good defence. All players have to take on this role. We need to be one team on the pitch. To defend jointly and to attack jointly as we did against Portugal and have ball possession, that would be very good."
Will Germany beat Ghana? Let us know your thoughts please!
