Have the Germans got the jitters? You bet. Its palpable. Angela Merkel is in the midst of separating the bickering Franz Beckenbauer, Karl Heinz Rummenigge and Felix Magath from the beleaguered coach Jurgen Klinsmann. All these heavyweights are throwing punches at him. Make nice, boys. She also has a country to run. Some of the pressure seems to have paid off as Beckenbauer threw Klinsmann a bone recently.
You can say that Klinsi has not engendered much confidence in the German establishment with his image problem.But lets take a look at this team and you will see that the problems are not an indifferent coach, a bickering establishment, or just good old schaudenfreude. Its fundamental.
Germany just does not have a good enough team. Too much rides on Michael Ballack, the team captain and a classy midfielder.
Strikers Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger are talented but untested. Miroslav Klose has his moments. Christian Wörns is out.
The German public senses this. Only 5 percent believe that they will win the World Cup.
But then again there is the Teutonic spirit. The German team of 2002 was no better but they pulled it off somehow.