Soccer: Germans ready to gamble on Ballack

BERLIN - Germany will risk losing Michael Ballack to suspension in tomorrow's match against Ecuador in the hope of maintaining their momentum and clinching top spot in Group A. Their aim? To avoid facing England in the second round.

Ballack already has a yellow card and one more against the in-form South Americans would see Germany's captain ruled out for the next game.

Ecuador and the hosts have already booked their passage to the last 16 but Germany must win to top the section. Second place would leave them facing the Group B winners and, as that is likely to be England, the hosts are willing to gamble.

"Ballack will play whatever the circumstances," Germany's assistant coach Joachim Loew said. "We'll just have a word with him and tell him to avoid making unnecessary fouls."

Ballack's importance was evident when he returned against Poland after missing the opening 4-2 win over Costa Rica.

With the captain back running the midfield, Germany played a much more disciplined game and clinched a 1-0 win against their close neighbours with a goal from Oliver Neuville in stoppage time.

Germany have played much better than England, who just need to draw with Sweden to clinch first place in Group B - but they would still rather avoid their old rivals at this early stage. Loew said: "England haven't been convincing but they would raise their game for a one-off match against us."

Germany may make a couple of changes as they seek the win they need. Christoph Metzelder is recovering from a knee injury and may have to be replaced by Robert Huth.

Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski, disappointing against Poland, could lose out to Tim Borowski and Neuville. Germany know they will have to play well to beat Ecuador, who qualified behind only Brazil and Argentina and looked good in beating Poland 2-0 and Costa Rica 3-0.

"They are very disciplined, but also extremely dangerous," Loew said.

Ecuador's hopes of maintaining a perfect start could be hit by an ankle injury to striker Carlos Tenorio. Ivan Kaviedes, who scored against Costa Rica, looks set to come in.

Coach Luis Fernando Suarez, who may rest players on yellow cards, was clear where the main German danger would come from.

"Germany have some good players, but Ballack is the great talent," he said. "We have beaten Brazil and Argentina. Let's see if we have the same luck against Germany."


Poland v Costa Rica, Wednesday, Hanover, 2am

* Poland coach Pawel Janas must gamble on whether to save his own career or help kick-start a new era in Polish soccer, which may not include him, when his team play Costa Rica in their final group match.

The Poles, like their opponents from Central America, are facing the possibility of finishing bottom of Group A and heading home with no points. Such a result for Poland would almost certainly seal Janas' fate.

Polish officials last week said they would wait until mid-July before deciding on whether to stick with Janas for the European championship qualifiers.

With their team already eliminated from the World Cup, many coaches would field a second-string team to blood future talent.

But, on past evidence, the conservative Polish coach is unlikely to do that and will be going all out to finish the finals on a high in what could be his last game in charge.

Tomorrow's game could also spell the end of Alexandre Guimaraes tenure as Costa Rica coach after leading them to a second successive finals and will definitely be captain Paulo Wanchope's swansong.

Costa Rica's all-time leading scorer has decided to call it a day at 30 after scoring 45 goals in 71 appearances.

- REUTERS