Hosts' hopes rest with Ballack

Emmet Malone reports on the mood in the German camp as they prepare to face an Argentina side with credible World Cup ambitions of their own

Berlin's International Convention Centre is a sprawling affair in the city's Charlottenburg district with a strongly dated 1970s look about it. The Germans may have picked it as their press conferences for that very reason, another link to the era when the greatness of their football teams was simply taken for granted.

These days everyone here knows that that's no longer the case. Jurgen Klinsmann talks his players up and the German people, it's clear, desperately want to believe but firm evidence that the team can win this World Cup has been desperately thin on the ground.

With each game, it's true, they have improved but only this afternoon will the hosts be tested against a side with credible title ambitions of their own.

In the likes of Philipp Lahm, Torsten Frings and Miroslav Klose, Klinsmann has players clearly capable of making a major impact at this level. To date, though, the hopes of a nation continue to be invested in Michael Ballack, the side's quiet spoken captain who must lead by example if the Argentinians are to be beaten at the Olympic Stadium today.

Ballack's current status here in Germany is slightly confused. Having just seen out his contract at Bayern Munich and signed as a free agent for Chelsea, he has attracted considerable animosity from the league champions' supporters who resent his decision to leave.

The move, though, has only served to enhance his popularity with fans of other clubs and images of the midfielder adorn almost every billboard, with advertisers anxious to be associated with the player perceived as the team's one truly world-class player.

Though the victory against Sweden last weekend was rather comfortable, the 29-year-old still did much throughout the game to justify the vast expectations that weigh upon his shoulders.

Early on, he was a model of economy and industry, repeatedly winning the ball and using it well in midfield, getting forward in support of the strikers but also quick to lend a hand in defence.

When his side took the lead and the Swedes were reduced to 10 men he shifted forward and unleashed a series of long-range shots, a couple of which threatened to give him his first goal of the tournament.

Then, in the closing stages, Frings was replaced and Ballack slipped comfortably into the role of full-time minder, sitting in front of the central defence and never straying out of position.

There were no more shots and he barely stepped inside the opposition's half during the remaining minutes of the game but the Swedes, on the way out of the World Cup unless they pulled two goals from somewhere, barely got more than a long distance peek at their target.

At yesterday's press conference Ballack was smoothness itself.

Having coolly dealt with the ongoing question of his problems with Klinsmann and then echoed the coach's guarded confidence that the hosts can take another step towards Sunday week's final, he light-heartedly shrugged off the campaign of vilification he was subjected to by his former bosses during the last few weeks of his hugely successful time at Bayern.

That there have been tensions with Klinsmann is, of course, an open secret but the coach spoke warmly about his skipper's influential role on the team's dramatic recent improvement while the player did more than enough to suggest that, if they are not close, then there is at least a healthy amount of mutual respect.

"Over the last two years, he has helped . . . the team to grow," said Klinsmann.

"On the field he's obviously a leader. What he does behind the scenes has been at least as important.

"He talks to young players, sometimes criticising if they have done something wrong, and he criticises us too, in a healthy way. We have very open discussions."

Klinsmann added: "In those ways he has helped the team since I took over but he has also undergone a huge mount of personal development during that time. He has become a stronger person and a better player."

Ballack, in return, compliments his manager, observing that, with his playing days only recently concluded, the former striker is firmly in tune with the current squad, something that has helped him to get the best out of what are, he would never concede, in some cases rather ordinary talents.

"I think as a squad we've come along way in the last few months and of course expectations have risen.

"Yes, we have to be realistic but why shouldn't it be realistic to say that we can beat Argentina.

"They and Brazil are the yardsticks at this World Cup but there is no need for us to hide our light under a bushel. We believe in ourselves and go into this game confident we can win."

His own role in midfield, where he and Frings will have to counter the threat posed Juan Roman Riquelme will be key.

"We've seen how important a player he is for them," says Ballack, "but I can't see us sinking so low as to man mark him. It has to be the other way around . . . we didn't get even this far by looking other teams' games, we have to impose our game.

"We've played Argentina a couple of times and got draws against them which were good results for us at the time. Now, though, we've raised our sights.

"We aim to win this time."