EURO 2008 INFO

Every major international football tournament is now preceded by a familiar refrain: the coaches and players of one of the favourites preparing their alibis by complaining they’ve played too many games.

Joachim Löw and Germany will not be able to use that ploy ahead of Euro 2008. Their first-choice goalkeeper, Jens Lehmann, has been a fringe player at Arsenal this season. Christoph Metzelder, once described by Sir Alex Ferguson as the best defender in the world, is out until at least April after foot surgery. In midfield, captain Michael Ballack is fresh after returning from injury, Torsten Frings will be fresher when he returns from knee problems, and even the hugely talented Bastian Schweinsteiger hasn’t been ever-present for Bayern. Up front, Lukas Podolski has also been in and out at Munich all season.

Such troubles – providing Frings and Metzelder are match fit by June – could prove to be blessings as Löw seeks to build on the promise of Germany’s run to the World Cup semi-finals in 2006.

Worst half performance

There was near-universal relief at the finals’ draw, which sees Germany avoid France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain until the final. Hans Krankl, coach of Austria until 2005, has tried to temper this optimism, tipping Croatia as an outside bet to win the tournament (this was before Eduardo’s injury) and reminding the Germans that their last group match is against Austria who, he suspects, will already have been knocked out and “will have nothing to lose and be playing for pride”.

In the recent friendly against Austria, Germany gave their worst 45-minute performance since they were beaten 5-1 by England in September 2001 but still managed to win 3-0.

Hardest shot

Jens Lehmann is ranked the second-best goalkeeper in the Castrol Performance Index, with 3162 points, not far behind France’s Gregory Coupet (3250 pts). A forceful keeper, he makes fewer errors than many assume: it’s just what when he does, it’s usually spectacular and in front of the TV cameras. Timo Hildebrand, his main rival, has not been in sparkling form for Valencia, so Lehmann looks relatively safe. If Germany take a less experienced third keeper, as goalkeeping coach Thomas Köpke has hinted, look out for René Adler, Bayer Leverkusen’s in-form but uncapped 23-year-old.

Germany’s defence has been more efficient than under Klinsmann, keeping seven clean sheets in 12 qualifying games. At the core of this resilient back four are Metzelder, Mertesacker (934 points on the Castrol Performance Index) and Philipp Lahm (698pts), with Schalke 04’s Heiko Westermann and Bayer Leverkusen’s Gonzalo Castro and Manuel Friedrich also vying for places.

In midfield, Germany are driven by Ballack (687pts) and Frings (116pts), probably Europe’s greatest central pairing after Italy’s Gattuso and Pirlo. Ballack’s strike rate – 35 goals in 78 games – is remarkable for a midfielder. Schweinsteiger – Germany’s top-rated midfielder with 1254 points – has been pretty consistent for Germany if not Bayern: 13 goals in 48 games is a respectable record. Thomas Hitzlsperger (719pts), who has the hardest shot in the Bundesliga at 130km/h, can also score goals from long distance, and versatile veteran Bernd Schneider is still in the picture.

Golden Boot

The first striker on the teamsheet is Miroslav Klose (1687pts), the Golden Boot winner at the 2006 World Cup. A recent goal drought prompted speculation that Löw might drop him, but the coach has kept faith with a player whose strike rate is a goal every two games. Klose now has 37 goals – level with the great Oliver Bierhoff – and is Germany’s sixth-highest scorer of all time.

In 2006, Klose formed a great partnership with Lukas Podolski (2274pts, which ranks him fifth-best striker). Although Podolski scored four of his seven goals in the qualifiers against San Marino, his strike rate is even better than Klose’s and he will probably be preferred over Schalke’s Kevin Kuranyi, who has never quite scored goals in industrial quantities. Stuttgart’s Mario Gómez – Germany’s player of the year in 2007 – offers height as another option: the 22-year-old is also a target for Juventus and Real Madrid.

Germany have the players, the right calibre of coaching team, the experience and the temperament. They have not won a major tournament since Euro 96, but if fitness and fortune favour them, they could get their chance for revenge against Italy in the Euro 2008 final.