Limping to South Africa

Holed up in their Black Forest retreat this week to discuss the potential Germany squad for the forthcoming World Cup, national team coach Joachim Loew and his staff must have looked at the provisional list and wondered what they had done to deserve this.

But then again, Joachim Loew never looks completely happy. Even when Germany are winning and playing well, he maintains a furrowed brow and a measured tone. However, there has been an extra dark edge to his aura of late. Loew looks like a man with a lot on his mind; even more than normal.

Loew admitted this week that has 'serious' concerns about the form and fitness of several of his squad as the red letter day of June 13 – the date of Germany's opening game in Group D against Australia – looms ominously on his calendar.

"I am not worried, but the situation is serious," Loew told German tabloid Bild. "As I have said before, our task must now be to get the players back to top form and fitness as quickly as possible. We have already proved we can do that. A lot can change in the next six weeks."

Outsiders might be wondering what all the fuss is about, in a season in which Bayern Munich have helped put German soccer back on the map through their Champions League exploits. But the stars who have driven that success, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, are not German.

In fact, if the Dutchman and the Frenchman are taken as the benchmark, one would be hard pushed to find a Bayern player from Germany who has looked to be in their class in recent months - Bastian Schweinsteiger aside.

His form will please Jogi Loew; that of the German contingent in Bayern's strike force? Not so much. Miroslav Klose and Mario Gomez are two prime examples of German national team members currently punching below their weight.

First choice strikers struggling to hit the target

Klose has been a shadow of himself this season. It has been the second worst campaign of his professional career - not what a coach would want from one of Germany's first choice international striker's ahead of a World Cup. Despite taking the field in a Bayern shirt 22 times this season, Miro has only managed to find the back of the net twice.

His team-mate Gomez has fared better this term, scoring ten goals, but he's battled injuries that have kept him from getting an extended run - and in any case, the jury is still out on whether he is Germany's answer to the team's long-term striking needs.

Until the middle of the World Cup qualification campaign last year, Gomez looked to have a phobia of scoring goals for his country. Anyone hoping he can rise to the challenge in South Africa should watch videos of his Euro 2008 performances, although most are X-rated.

It's not just Bayern strikers about whom a haze of doubt has settled. Lukas Podolski has been less of a Prince and more of a court jester this season, hitting the target just twice since swapping Munich for Cologne last summer. Usually the first choice partner of Klose up front, Jogi Loew must be wondering where on earth his goals are going to come from if the previously prolific Poldi can't find the net.

Calls for radical new strike force a little premature

Those calling for Leverkusen's Stefan Kiessling to lead the line are probably the same people who want Kevin Kuranyi to partner him. Both players have made an impact in the Bundesliga but their international credentials remain in question.

Kiessling has had a good season, there's no doubt about that. The lanky striker is one of the main reasons Leverkusen led the Bundesliga for so long earlier this season. His goals took Leverkusen into dreamland where a Bundesliga title sat comfortably on their heads – before the whole team got the jitters and dropped off the pace. This said, his 18 goals and counting are a good return for any striker, and he should be in the Germany squad, though perhaps as a back-up. That's because the Leverkusen forward has yet to score for Germany and has only played three times for his country. Hardly what you would call a proven international striker.

Kuranyi, on the other hand, has a respectable 19 goals from 52 caps and has also been on target 18 times this season with Schalke. But calls to whoosh him into the starting 11, however blistering his recent form, are premature.

Many questions remain: Has Kuranyi matured enough to leave the baggage of past conflict with Loew at the door if asked to return? Has the childish attitude which led to him being dumped in the first place been rehabilitated? Even if he is a changed man, Kuranyi has never been a first choice international striker. His inclusion in the squad would be a smart move, but his return to the first team could only be sanctioned should all the other strikers continue playing as rubbish as they have been lately.

Youngsters reaching burn-out after strenuous campaign

And what of Loew's hungry youngsters? The Germany coach has put much stock in the young generation ahead of the World Cup. Surely the chance of going to South Africa should be firing the bellies of Bayern's Thomas Mueller, Bremen's Mesut Oezil and Marko Marin, and Leverkusen's Toni Kroos.

While Kroos continues to dazzle despite Leverkusen's dip in confidence, and Marin has surged in the season's second half, Oezil looks to have lost his sparkle. After a wonderful pre-winter break spell with Bremen, the youngster was pegged as Germany's creative spark for the World Cup. But the fireworks have fizzled out lately.

Thomas Mueller, such a revelation for much of his first year in the Bayern first team, now looks tired - unsurprisingly so, considering Bayern's long season pursuing three trophies. Is the World Cup a bridge too far? Quite possibly.

The other main area of concern is between the posts. After being handed the No. 1 jersey, Leverkusen's Rene Adler has been doing his best to give Manuel Neuer and Tim Wiese another chance to unseat him. Adler's form has hit an uneven patch at the worst possible time for club and country and the howler he made against Argentina got people thinking that the race for the goalkeeping role ought to be thrown wide open again. If the shirt does comes up for grabs, Neuer should be the favorite to grab it - and not drop it, hopefully.

Ballack injury the main concern on wounded list

While form is the main problem in most areas of the Germany team, Jogi Loew is also sweating over a few injuries which may or may not clear up in time for the World Cup. While Stuttgart's Sami Khedira, Leverkusen's Simon Rolfes, and Hamburg's Marcel Jansen's long-term injuries ruling them out of the World Cup have caused a few headaches already, it's the continuing low-level injury to captain Michael Ballack which may cause Loew the most concern.

Ballack's Achilles tendon troubles have kept him out of the Chelsea first team for a few weeks now; despite assuring Loew that he will be back starting for the Blues soon, and that he will certainly be fit for the World Cup, one has to wonder if Germany's talismanic leader may have come to the end of the international road at the most inopportune moment.

Hardly the livewire midfield force of his youth these days, Ballack remains an automatic choice for Germany on game vision and experience alone. Should the calf injury restrict his movement much further, however, those young lads currently learning from him may usurp the master sooner rather than later.

Saying that, it would take an amputation to stop Ballack getting on the plane to South Africa, even if it does turn out to be his last World Cup.

Author: Nick Amies
Editor: Matt Hermann