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It isn't correct: Spain DO have an European title, we won Euro 1964 at home against the USSR.

What I wonder is if this achievement (our last final in a big tournament was back in 1984 against France) will be a revulsive for our bid with Portugal for the WC2018 (in technical aspects, eight of the accredited 5-star UEFA Stadiums are located in Portugal and Spain, which is the most of any current European-based bid).

FIFA will not allow a bilateral bid again, there was too many problems with Korea/Japan (though I think the already close ties and EU integration between Spain and Portugal would negate much of the problems Korea/Japan had). Spain would technically be a very strong bid, but Spain last hosted in 1982, England in 1966. This could be a stumbling block of Spain.

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It isn't correct: Spain DO have an European title, we won Euro 1964 at home against the USSR.

What I wonder is if this achievement (our last final in a big tournament was back in 1984 against France) will be a revulsive for our bid with Portugal for the WC2018 (in technical aspects, eight of the accredited 5-star UEFA Stadiums are located in Portugal and Spain, which is the most of any current European-based bid).

Yup like Faster said, there won't be any bilateral bid, and I think Spain can host the games by itself without portugal, why spain must make a co-host with portugal ?

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It's clear for everyone that Spain is perfectly capable of bidding for and hosting a WC all by itself. But what chances could Spain alone have against England, when it's a more recent host and England has the romantic appeal of 'football heading home'?

I too think such a joint bid would have few chances since FIFA isn't keen on bilateral hostings and because it's an unbalanced plan, with Portugal having a maximum of 3 stadia and the other 7 in Spain -- even though, as Mikel said, it would have the biggest number of top-quality stadiums in Europe. But perhaps such candidature would have more chances and a different taste to the race, than Spain going forward all alone.

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We had so much luck in this tournament (maybe sometimes too much luck) -- but now it seems as if the "football god" finally wants to punish us: Michael Ballack has injured his right calf yesterday morning. Until today, his condition hasn't notably improved and Jogi Löw just announced in the final press conference before the match that there's only a small chance for Ballack of recovering in time for the final. He also said that either Bastian Schweinsteiger or Tim Borowski would take Ballack's role if he misses the final.

Probably it's Ballack's undeniable fate to miss every final at the big tournaments: In 2002, he was suspended after his second yellow card which he got in the World Cup semi-final against South Korea. In 2006, he and his teammates missed the World Cup final in the most dramatic fashion. And in 2008, it seems as if Ballack's traditional weak spot, the calf, throws a spanner in his plans again. He already missed the 2006 World Cup opening match against Costa Rica due to a calf injury. It is truly heart-breaking. :( :( :(

Ballack doubtful for Euro 2008 final (note: that article doesn't include the latest information from Jogi Löw's aforementioned press conference yet)

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With Ballack and Frings both on the bench this could be terrible, but Borowski is a decent player.

I am assuming both Schweinsteiger and Borowski are starters, if they are going to play the 4-5-1.

I have always assumed Germany was going to lose and without Ballack it will be ever harder.

I just hope there is 3 or 4 goals in the game.

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With Ballack and Frings both on the bench this could be terrible, but Borowski is a decent player.

I am assuming both Schweinsteiger and Borowski are starters, if they are going to play the 4-5-1.

I have always assumed Germany was going to lose and without Ballack it will be ever harder.

I just hope there is 3 or 4 goals in the game.

Torsten Frings will probably play -- he seems to have recovered from his rib injury. Also, his replacement Simon Rolfes didn't perform well and also suffered a injury against Turkey. That was also why Frings replaced him there in the second half.

Well, I also thought at first that it could be a hoax, but that would be an unusually dirty trick of Jogi Löw. Also, I think that if they really wanted to cheat us, they would have stayed with the first version, that it's "uncertain" whether Ballack can play or not. That would have been enough to leave the Spaniards in uncertainty. But now the DFB officials give out even worse reports, saying that Ballack stands "only a small chance" of taking part. They wouldn't do that if the situation wasn't serious indeed.

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Löw said today that Frings is O.K. again and will play from the start...

Than I don't see why the midfield won't be

Schweinsteiger, Rolfes, Frings, Hitzlsperger, Podolski

Borowski would be a more defensive choice, though if they want to go defensive Frtiz would be a better choice in my mind.

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No, that is the midfield that I think Low will put out. It would be my preferred midfield

I see.

However, I've got a very bad feeling in my stomach now. I know that Germany was less convincing in this tournament than Spain (which had weak moments, too, however) and therefore maybe deserves the title less -- but it's awful that we're now about to lose our team captain. That didn't work out well for Italy and France either... Maybe it's some kind of motivation for the other players, but frankly, I don't see a decent replacement for Ballack. It's especially bad that our midfield suffers such a blow, since the respective midfielders will play the crucial factor tomorrow.

Oh my, I had hoped that all those title dreams wouldn't dwindle even before the match is kicked off.

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Mensch F.,

das wird schon gut gehen - ich freue mich sehr aufs Spiel und man muss einfach sehen, wie das Spiel läuft - ich glaube schon das Deutschland eine Chance hat Europameister zu werden - und wie Du schon gesagt hast, vielleicht motiviert die eventuelle Nichtteilnahme von Ballack die anderen Spieler zusätzlich (ähnlich wie beim Portugal Spiel, dass Löw oben im Zuschauerraum bleiben musste) - Spanien ist aber ein super team und wenn die Spanier besser spielen, müssen wir das einfach akzeptieren...

M.

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Mensch F.,

das wird schon gut gehen - ich freue mich sehr aufs Spiel und man muss einfach sehen, wie das Spiel läuft - ich glaube schon das Deutschland eine Chance hat Europameister zu werden - und wie Du schon gesagt hast, vielleicht motiviert die eventuelle Nichtteilnahme von Ballack die anderen Spieler zusätzlich (ähnlich wie beim Portugal Spiel, dass Löw oben im Zuschauerraum bleiben musste) - Spanien ist aber ein super team und wenn die Spanier besser spielen, müssen wir das einfach akzeptieren...

M.

Dein Wort in Gottes Ohr...

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Lol - I have just translated our short german conversation with babel fish - most is "late-zenicastyle", but some parts are understandable...

Mensch F.,

das wird schon gut gehen - ich freue mich sehr aufs Spiel und man muss einfach sehen, wie das Spiel läuft - ich glaube schon das Deutschland eine Chance hat Europameister zu werden - und wie Du schon gesagt hast, vielleicht motiviert die eventuelle Nichtteilnahme von Ballack die anderen Spieler zusätzlich (ähnlich wie beim Portugal Spiel, dass Löw oben im Zuschauerraum bleiben musste) - Spanien ist aber ein super team und wenn die Spanier besser spielen, müssen wir das einfach akzeptieren...

M.

"Humans F., that will be able be done already well - I look forward much to the play and one must see simple, like the play run - I believes already Germany a chance has European champions to become - and as you already said, perhaps motivate the possible nonparticipation of Ballack the other players additionally (similarly as with Portugal play that Löw had to remain above in the auditorium) - to Spain is however a super team and if the Spaniards better to play, we must accept that simply…"

Dein Wort in Gottes Ohr...

"Your word in God ear…"

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mhh - it could be a hoax, too

I notice the British media are reporting Ballack as a 'doubt'. Personally, I won't believe either he or Villa aren't fit until I see either one of them not on the team sheet tomorrow night.

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I notice the British media are reporting Ballack as a 'doubt'. Personally, I won't believe either he or Villa aren't fit until I see either one of them not on the team sheet tomorrow night.

Well, nobody said that Ballack is definitely out. But the chances that he recovers in time are pretty small.

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I see.

However, I've got a very bad feeling in my stomach now. I know that Germany was less convincing in this tournament than Spain (which had weak moments, too, however) and therefore maybe deserves the title less -- but it's awful that we're now about to lose our team captain. That didn't work out well for Italy and France either... Maybe it's some kind of motivation for the other players, but frankly, I don't see a decent replacement for Ballack. It's especially bad that our midfield suffers such a blow, since the respective midfielders will play the crucial factor tomorrow.

Oh my, I had hoped that all those title dreams wouldn't dwindle even before the match is kicked off.

Aren't you making a bit of a big deal out of this? ;)

Come on Olympian, I understand how great, competitive, excellent and crucial Ballack is to the German team. Nevertheless, it's not THAT that big of a disastrous or tragedy if he is ruled out from competing. I know that he has worked hard and is probably his number one dream but do you think that Ballack's absence is going to make it or break it for the German team? As you're probably well aware, Turkey missed out on most of its exceptional players yet it still managed to squeeze by to the Semi Finals and almost bypassed the Germans in doing so with their B squad. So cheer up and try to make the best out of the worst (Not that this is the worst scenario here at all). I'm sure that the German team will have a Plan B ready in time should Ballack be ruled unfit to compete.

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