If you had predicted, before the World Cup began, that Germany and Spain would meet in the World Cup Semi-finals, very few would have refuted your prediction. But had you said that Germany would beat England and Argentina, en route, there could have been a few raised eyebrows. Especially as Germany, a relatively inexperienced team, lost their only experienced player, captain, Ballack, to injury, on the eve of the cup. Spain were pre-tournament favourites; nobody could have predicted that they would lose their opening group match to Switzerland, or play less fluently than they did at Euro 2008. This has been a topsy turvy World Cup, with several upsets, beginning from day one. With a young Germany, playing a brand of football nobody has associated the team with, in the past, Spain can no longer be sure of repeating their Euro 2008 final victory over Germany. Schweinsteiger, all of 25 years of age, is the senior player of this German squad, and expected to fill in for missing seni...