Arsenal stars to be unleashed against Brazil?
Whereas Mesut Ozil has started all five games for Germany at the World Cup so far, his Arsenal team mates Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski have not been so fortunate. The 29-year old striker, in particular, has been largely a spectator so far, with just 56 minutes of action in two sub appearances.
But Podolski’s World Cup could be about to take off and the Germany international would love to have the chance to go past Rudi Voller and Jurgen Klinsmann in Germany’s all time scoring charts, with the Prince currently tied in third with 47 goals.
With Brazil’s best striker, Neymar, ruled out of the tournament with injury, I expect Joachim Low to go on the offensive and put pressure on their dodgy defence. And Podolski, in a Daily Mail report, has been talking about the pressure of being the host nation, and that Germany are ready to exploit it.
He said, “Brazil have the pressure because they are playing at home.
“If we play against 70,000-80,000 Brazilian fans in the stadium, it’s OK. Every one of us plays away from home in big games. When you play at Tottenham, you are used to this – or in front of 40,000-50,000 at Liverpool as well.
“We were close in 2010 and 2006 and we lost in the semi-final and now I have the feeling we are closer than we were in the last World Cups.
“We have this feeling. We are very close – everybody in the squad. You feel everybody wants it. We have a big opportunity to win the title now. In previous years we have been close but now we want this so much.”
The prolific Gunner could be Germany’s secret weapon against the hosts if Low does decide to go for the throat and losing the pace and skill of Neymar suggests to me that this is the way forward and that Arsenal’s BFG will be back in the side. It would also silence the raucous crowd which Podolski talks about and suit Mesut Ozil’s game as well.
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