I Dislike Your Favorite Team

I seemed to have forgotten about this game when I was writing my preview of today. It wasn't out of an enmity towards either of these countries, though I do dislike them both.

This is an interesting point in the first round. Every team has played at least one game, and now have a sense of what they need to do to get into the top two of their group.

Group A's first day was one of somewhat questionable success for Germany, and abject failure for Poland.

Germany's at the top of the group, Poland is at the bottom. Germany knows that Poland is better than the game they played against Ecuador, and may employ a very, very conservative offense. With Ballack back on the wing, and Klose apparently in form, this German side also becomes a very dangerous counter-attacking team.

Things:
1. How conservative will Germany be? How attack minded will Poland be? Will Poland test Lehmann or Kahn more than they did Ecuador's netminder? They'll need to.
2. How well will Ballack mesh with what was a very fluid attack against (admittedly) Costa Rica. He's their best player, but will he demand the ball too much?
3. Who's defense is crappier? Germany was playing a ridiculous offside trap in their last game that Costa Rica got behind constantly. Poland's defense looked like they had just woken up one minute before gametime. Slow, sluggish, getting their doors blown off. If we see those two defenses again, it could be a long night for both goalkeepers.

Prediction: Germany 3, Poland 2.