It was FA Cup Final 2010 between table toppers Chelsea and table proppers Portsmouth. It was surprisingly a very tight and somehow entertaining contest in which Chelsea won thanks to a marvelous free kick by Didier Drogba. Everyone associated with Chelsea celebrated their Double well into the night and well into the start of next season. However, not everyone in the Chelsea camp celebrates though. Michael Ballack, the player who is supposed to lead the Germany squad out as their Captain in World Cup 2010 in South Africa went down injured after a heavy tackle/stamp by Portsmuth's Kevin Prince-Boateng. It was then confirmed that Ballack's chances of his final shot at the World Cup ended with a wimp. This also prompted the conspiracy theories to pop up like an algal bloom as Kevin Prince-Boateng is Ghana's key player, the country which has been drawn in Group D together with Germany. This is also fueled further when Kevin's father claimed that Kevin has had altercations with Ballack before and that was the “pay back time”. In any case, Ballack's out, and the “Nationalmansschaft” (pardon my best attempt at German) will sorely miss their Captain. But what are the possible effects of Ballack's absence on the somewhat new look German side on transition from a generation to the next?
First up, Ballack's absence would certainly rob a wealth of big game experience from him. In football, as a player ages, what he loses, such as pace, acceleration, and strength are all converted into experience, leadership, and match-reading capabilities. While it is true that the modern game increasingly rely on raw pace and sheer youth thanks to the popularity of the English Premier League, we have to realize that in any big tournament such as the World Cup, or any big competitions for that matter, a team needs veterans in their team. Just like how Arsene Wenger would slowly realize, “you win nothing with kids”, and that has been proven time and time again. This is not to say that a manager should do a Lippi and select only the senior citizens of football and ignore the new and excited “kids and prodigies”, but the aforementioned raw pace and youthful brilliance in the team should be complemented and augmented by a witty and experienced veteran as a balancing act and as a calming and driving figure when things get tough and the tough gets going. The veteran's role, even if limited on the physical side of the game itself could be crucial either when the team is frustratingly failing to break down a staunch defense of an underdog or when the team is trailing against a big gun, especially at half time in which the veteran such as Ballack could deliver that edge through a supplemental team talk in the dressing room or even a simple but magical encouragement shouts on the pitch. Also, a huge figure such as Ballack would send chills down the opponents' spines when the announcer announces his name on the team sheet prior to the match, and it would even trigger a change to their original plan in the attempt to stop the mighty Ballack. During a penalty kick and/or penalty shoot-outs, his huge reputations which have been garnered throughout his long and eventful career would send goalkeepers, especially the young ones into a groggy spell which increases Ballack's chance to score from the spot by manifolds. Thus, on and off the pitch, Ballack's experience and sheer presence will be sorely missed by Germany and the effects would show when Germany is low on morale and ideas when trying to break through a tough spell in the tournament.
The second effect would be the very fact that once Ballack is always Ballack. What I am trying to say is that, we should forget about his advancing age, Michael Ballack is a world class player and few if any could doubt that fact. True, he might not be the same player as 5-6 years ago for instance, but form is temporary, class is permanent. I might add, class is permanent, and everything else, is temporary. True, age has a debilitating effect to any person, let alone professional athletes, but they can evolve their roles while still retaining the world class edge. For example, del Piero reverting to a more withdrawn role and becoming more of a super-sub in his later years, or Roy Keane from an all encompassing midfielder to solely a defensive midfielder prior to his retirement, or Zidane from an energetic, tireless playmaker to a more static playmaker in the mould of Juan Roman Riquelme just to name a few. Ballack is no exception. Even if his role is to be limited to the aforementioned psychological effects through his sheer presence and penalty taking, I dare say that both of them need skills to be implemented. The first one is of course as mentioned above, have to be accumulated throughout a world class career, while the latter, as much as it is easy on the eye, is not, and a combination of years of practice and perfection with the player's innate talents are needed to be a perfect penalty taker. Thus, forget about age, as no matter what Ballack is still a world class player, and even if critics continue to state that Ballack will be nothing more than a deadwood on the pitch waiting for penalties to steal all the good show, so be it. It has been proven that a simple penalty shot can mean the difference between World Cup glory and shameful runners-up status. Just ask Roberto Baggio and David Trezeguet. Thus, a loss of an aged Ballack is as good as a loss of Ballack of 5-6 years ago. It will never change. For another evidence of this, just take France in the last World Cup in 2006. The hapless and erratic France managed to go all the way to the final of the world cup and only a penalty shot away from World Cup Glory. Why? It was good old Zidane, who carried the sheer weight of the whole of France in the manner of Atlas, the Greek mythology figure, and carried them all the way to the final, but alas, he also carried France all the way to the aforementioned shameful runners-up tag no thanks to “THAT” particular headbutt. But that's another debate for another occasion. The fact that Michael Ballack will miss this World Cup might mean that Germany has missed out on either one of the gold and silver or even bronze medals of the World Cup 2010.
The third effect, still emphasizing how important Ballack is to Germany, is the fact that as a senior figure and respected captain, Ballack would serve as the uniting and driving figure in the dressing room of the new look German squad. New and young faces in the squad such as Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Mesut Oezil, and Jerome Boateng are no doubt world class players who have bright futures ahead of them. But still, in this kind of tournament where every touch, every run, and every tingle of bad or good luck count, these youngsters can't do it all on their own. They need a huge figure to guide them along the tournament, to straighten their ways if they somehow stray during the tournament, to drive them on, to encourage them when things get tough for them, and also to facilitate the transition from the old to the new. Without Ballack, it is okay if Germany could have 5-0 thrashings all the way to the final, these youngsters will have no problems at all. But World Cup is nothing like that. Every match is difficult, and teams need to be in their proverbial 110% in every single match, and any decrease from that would result in a knock out. These youngsters are not yet stable mentally and physically, especially the former. Thus, when the squad is low on morale, especially if their first and even second match in the group stage doesn't go well and they can't fully control their destiny, these youngsters might even crumble, break down, and go on to lose the third match which would undoubtedly send a whole country into a long mourning. Thus, when this is the case, the figure of a pseudo-manager in Michael Ballack could change all this, and drive them on to still give their very best for the third match and they might sneak through and even go on to win the whole thing. The difference between Ballack and no Ballack is as huge as it could be. Just look at Arsenal. Youthful squad without a calming figure in the mold of Patrick Vieira results in literally nothing but cobwebs in the trophy cabinet.
However, despite the fact that the youngsters in the squad need a guiding hand in the form of Ballack who leads by example on and off the pitch, all of us have to accept that this is the end of an era. Time for the baton to be passed from the old guards to the new and exuberant youths. Ballack's absence might even be a blessing in disguise as it might better facilitate the transition better as they would need to step up to the plate and be counted and to be able to replace the legend. A new leader might even emerge from the pool of youths and be the next big thing in the new generation, and the chances of this is quite high as the vacuum left by Ballack would suck these youths in to step out of their comfort zones and write their own destiny and history. In any case, it is not certain and could go two ways. Either Germany do an Arsenal and crumble when it matters most due to the inexperience youngsters being unable to take the strain of the toughness of the competition, or a new superstar and a new leader could emerge from the ashes of the old generation and lead Germany forward to a brighter future.
Thus, although the absence of Ballack proves to be a massive blow to Germany, we have to stop looking at present, and look to the future. It is pertinent that Germans and everyone in the world for that matter to accept the fact that generations change overtime, and especially in football where that change occurs in a much faster rate than other aspects of life. Now, it is up to the youngsters in the new look German squad to step up, be counted, and daringly and gracefully step into the void left by their injured captain. Even if the newly emerged leader fails to hold on and still crumble, there's nothing to be ashamed of as the ground has been laid for a new and bright future for Germany. If they can't win it in 2010, and if a new leader indeed emerges out of the ashes of failure, Germans all over the world are able to rejoice in the knowledge and realization that they will be back with a bang in 2014 and finally win their fourth world cup, and that joy could even arrive much earlier in Euro 2012! In any case, it is now up to the youngsters in the German Squad to control and write their own destiny.
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