Group C comes alive as World Champions Germany battle it out with Ukraine in the last match of the day by 8:00 Nigerian time.
TEAM NEWS
Germany
- Antonio Rudiger has been ruled out of the Euros and replaced in the squad by Jonathan Tah after suffering a serious knee injury in training on Tuesday.
- Mats Hummels will not feature for Germany until at least the third group game after coming into the tournament with an injury. Bastian Schweinsteiger has been working hard to be fit in time for the Euros but may not be risked so soon. Jerome Boateng is also nursing a knock ahead of the tournament.
- Marco Reus' omission from the squad means Mario Gotze looks favourite to occupy the left forward role unless Low reverts to using Mesut Ozil in that position as he did in the 2014 World Cup.
- If Boateng fails to recover in time then Benedikt Höwedes and Shkodran Mustafi could find themselves starting at the heart of Germany's defence. Julian Weigl could be deployed in front of this defence to provide added protection.
Ukraine
- Ukraine don't have any serious injury concerns ahead of their group opener against Germany and can field their strongest XI.
VERDICT
The World Champions may have struggled during the friendlies, but when it comes to a tournament proper, they sure know how to make their way through to the latter stages. Goals should pour in, maybe the first match to have up to four goals.
PREDICTION = Germany 3-1 Ukraine
No comments:
Post a Comment