Germany's flaws

In 100 days, Germany will take the field in Durban against Australia in their first match of the World Cup in South Africa. As Germany has won the tournament three times - and been to the final in an additional four - fans expect their team to go deep into the competition. But the squad's poor showing from back to front on Wednesday, along with some players' untimely loss of form in the Bundesliga, paints a cloudier picture.

Goalkeeping

Germany's problems start at the back, in the one position it's not had to worry about in ages - in goal.

With past greats like Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann out of the picture, the last two years have been one long audition for the number one shirt. Since Hanover goalkeeper Robert Enke's startling suicide last year, it's boiled down to a three-way affair between Bayer Leverkusen's Rene Adler, Werder Bremen's Tim Wiese, and Manuel Neuer of Schalke.

In getting the start in Munich, Adler was thought to have won the part. But the 25-year-old didn't play well on Wednesday, and Loew may reconsider.

Adler misjudged his own speed in failing to get to a long ball - a mistake that cost Germany a goal. And his sloppiness was nearly cause for another, after Juan Sebastian Veron's chip following the keeper's poor clearance just barely missed the net.

Moreover, the quiet Adler doesn't fit the mold of so many of his predecessors in the German goal - keepers with commanding personalities who were unafraid to shout their back lines into place.

If Adler's Bundesliga form dips in any significant way, Jogi Loew may turn to Neuer or Wiese - both of whom have more naturally imposing presences.

Defense

It would be unfair to lay the responsibility for Germany's defensive frailty at Adler's doorstep, however. The back line is another cause for concern.

Barring injury, Per Mertesacker of Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich's Philipp Lahm are as good as picked for the first team. Beyond that, everything is up in the air.

Mertersacker's old partner in the center of defense, Christoph Metzelder, can't get a game for Real Madrid and is out of the picture. Arne Friedrich, who can play in the center or on the wing, has seen his form dip almost as badly his club Hertha Berlin's, rooted in last place in the Bundesliga. The similarly flexible Heiko Westermann of Schalke is still working his way back from an injury and will have to hope to recover his best form before the tournament.

Perhaps most worrisome is the lack of a breakthrough first-team candidate among the newer members of the squad.

Jerome Boateng would seem to be the furthest along, having coped well enough in his third start on Wednesday, but he still hasn't reproduced for Germany the form he's shown for Hamburg in the Bundesliga. Stuttgart's Serdar Tasci, however, did himself few favors in Munich. He was juked by Angel di Maria, thereby giving up a dangerous shot, and failed to coordinate well with his partner Per Mertesacker.

Further options, however, are few. A little over a year ago, when Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim were still flying high, not many would have doubted that Marcel Schaefer and Andreas Beck would be in Germany's squad for South Africa. But each now seems questionable, and will likely play only a bit part if brought along for the trip.

Midfield

The talent is there for Germany in the middle of the park - the problem is how to deploy it.

Wednesday's attempt to use Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger as complementary holding midfielders didn't really catch fire. Both players did a lot of running and tackling, so much so that they forgot to turn sufficient attention to building play while Germany was in possession.

This might simply have been overcompensation - the clear division of labor that used to guide Germany's midfield when Ballack was paired with Torsten Frings is no more and each erred on the side of caution, concentrating on defense. Both Ballack and Schweinsteiger do like to get forward, and both have the field vision and eye for goal to be effective when doing it, provided they have a partner to cover them. They just need time to establish that rapport - time which is running short.

On the wings and further forward in midfield, Germany is blessed with a wealth of options. Younger guys like Thomas Müller (Bayern), Toni Kroos (Leverkusen), and Marko Marin (Bremen) have become impact players in the Bundesliga this season, and the more experienced Aaron Hunt (Bremen) and Marcell Jansen (Hamburg) are in as good form as they have ever been.

Mesut Oezil is another story. In the first half of the Bundesliga season, the 21-year-old was riding high with Bremen, and coming off an outstanding European championship-winning campaign with the under-21's. He played well in a series of matches for Germany (Russia, South Africa, Ivory Coast) and looked to be ready to assume the role of Germany's offensive lynchpin for years to come.

Since then, the wheels have come off. Özil hasn't had a dominant performance for his club in months, and looked similarly lost against Argentina. The most natural stand-in for his role as orchestrator might be Kroos, but handing over the keys to the team to a 20-year-old driver - with one cap to his name - would be a huge gamble.

Attack

Up front might be Germany's weakest point of all. The team's stalwarts of the past few years are off form, and there's not a lot in the way of alternatives.

At Bayern Munich, Louis van Gaal has all but decided Miroslav Klose is past it, using him as a substitute. Klose's replacement in the Bayern first team, Mario Gomez,has yet to show he has the efficiency with chances that is the hallmark of a true international-quality striker. Lukas Podolski, meanwhile, both with his club Cologne and now on Wednesday with the national team, has performed so awfully over the last half a year that his coaches will have little choice but to bench him.

The Bundesliga's leading scorer Stefan Kiessling didn't play on Wednesday - the first striker off the bench was Stuttgart's Cacau. Perhaps the naturalized German citizen from Brazil got the nod because he scored seven goals in the last three club matches leading up to the friendly. It could also be because Loew believes Kiessling's goalscoring touch has left him. The Leverkusen striker has scored just one of his 13 league goals since November.

Beyond those two, the only legitimate alternatives are Patrick Helmes and Kevin Kuranyi - and each is likely to miss out on the World Cup.

Helmes spent most of the first half of the season recovering from an ACL tear, and has yet to start a game - much less score - for Leverkusen since.

The case of Kuranyi is different. He made himself persona non grata with Loew two years ago when he abruptly left a Germany-Russia game at halftime, having been left out of the match day squad. At the time Loew's decision to ban the Schalke striker seemed an easy one. But Loew may yet miss him - or at least rue having said "never again."

Kuranyi 's 12 league goals so far this season have made him just the third player ever to go eight Bundesliga seasons in a row with a double-digit scoring tally. If German goals go missing in South Africa, expect the name Kuranyi to come up.

Author: Matt Hermann
Editor: Susan Houlton