Germany

FIFA ranking: 16th

Key man: Michael Ballack. Absolutely central to German plans and their only genuinely world-class player.

How they qualified: Hosts.

Coach: Jurgen Klinsmann. Radical experimentation in his first coaching position brought improvements but the media feasted on recent lapses and his continued residence in California.

Leading scorer in qualifying:No qualifiers.

Record: Sixth appearance plus 10 appearances as West Germany. Winners 1954, 1974, 1990.

This time: Unusually for Germany, the defence has been a shambles. They are hosts, but they're not good enough to triumph.

If they were an English team they'd be: Manchester United.

Fact: : The average German drinks 119 litres of beer a year, second only to the Irish.