GERMANY v PORTUGAL MATCH PREVIEW
Andy Morgan

Amidst allegations of corporate rather than football interests dominating the existence of the much-derided Third Place Play-off match it is hard to forget that two suffering teams have to play in the contest.

FIFA Spokesman Markus Siegler has defended its relevance, stating that it is a matter of pride for the two nations involved as to who comes third and fourth. He also added that the home interest of the Germans will add an extra spice to this game.

This contrasts with the views of Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari who believes that the tie makes more sense from a business perspective. He admits that it will be hard to motivate his players for this game because they will be thinking about what they missed out on.

The game has more significance for the Germans for two reasons.

Firstly, on home soil they want to give the fans something to cheer about after they had expected them to at least reach the Final.

Secondly Germany striker Miroslav Klose is the tournament's Golden Boot going into this weekend with five goals and a goal in this tie will surely secure the award. He says he is more concerned about winning the game but accepts that it will be a small consolation for the German fans if he could at least keep one title in Germany.

Klose has been passed fit for the game after overcoming a niggling injury and Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann has categorically stated that his star striker will play. Klinsmann is backing Klose to score the two goals needed to surpass his own World Cup record.

Influential captain Michael Ballack will miss the game due to an inflamed knee. His presence will be sorely missed as without him the Germans look considerably less-well organised. The worry will be that they will not have the combative presence in midfield to be able to do with the Portuguese flair players, particularly Cristiano Ronaldo.

Klinsmann is also using this opportunity to give some of his squad players a game. Per Mertesacker, who has been an ever-present so far, and Arne Friedlich will be replaced in defence by Robert Huth and Marcell Jansen. Both played in their 3-0 win against Ecuador and will be relishing another opportunity to impress the Germany coach.

At twenty-one and twenty years of age respectively, Huth and Jansen are seen as the future of the German defence. Huth spent most of last season on the bench at Chelsea but Klinsmann has kept faith in him. Good in the air he is a strong competitor and with seventeen caps already he has the experience to keep the Portuguese at bay. His positional play is weak however and sometimes his distribution is poor.

Jansen is more attack-minded than Huth and plays on the left-wing. This is a good game to add to his experience as he only has seven caps to his name. He is poor with his right foot though and not strong in the air, unlike Huth. He is good at getting forward though and is expected to terrorise the Portugese right.

The other major news for the Germans is the return of goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. In April there was considerable controversy when Klinsmann picked Jens Lehmann for the coveted number one jersey. In Germany many satirised the veteran but Lehmann has agreed to stand aside to allow Kahn to obtain his eighty-sixth cap.

Klinsmann maintains that no one can begrudge Kahn the honour of playing in one last World Cup game, saluting his behind-the-scenes role as a coach as a major factor in his decision. He believes that the veteran's knowledge has aided the German's young side into blossoming earlier than was intended and he sees this as his reward to a man who has given Germany so much service.

Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho is set to miss this game through suspension, after picking up his second booking in the 1-0 defeat to France on Wednesday evening. He is yet to miss a game for the Portuguese this World Cup. The absence of the tough defender will be a major blow to Scolari's men.

Porto defender Miguel Ricardo Costa is likely to take his place, making his first appearance in these Finals. He was fortunate to get into the squad after the experienced Jorge Andrade was injured pre-tournament and he also struggled to get a game for Porto. With only three caps he is also very inexperienced but he won the Champions League with his club in 2004 and may be able to translate this to this game.

Portugal will be weakened in defence by the absence of Luis Miguel, who has a knee injury. The Valencia right-back has thirty-three caps and has played the majority of his country's World CUp fixtures. He is a solid member of the back-line and without him and Carvalho expect Portugal to be significantly weaker.

Renato Paulo Ferreira is likely to stand-in, starting his first game in this World Cup. He has thirty-one caps and is a major threat going forward but of late has been struggling to make his national team's squad. Expect Scolari to choose a more attacking formation than the one he chose against both England and France to accommodate him.

Portugal are poor in attack and now weak in defence. Germany are ruthless in both and with home advantage it's hard to see them not winning this one.

120 minutes of football against Italy may have taken their toll but they have had an extra day to recuperate so this could even out. Coupled with this is their dignified reaction to defeat as opposed to Scolari's and Ronaldo's rantings that the referee was against them during their semi-final.

If the German defenders don't give the Portuguese an excuse to dive then its hard to see them scoring whereas Klose has a philip and Klinsmann wants to give the fans a good send-off. You just feel mentally, the Germans have the edge here.

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