Each of Germany's 4 strikers got his name on the score sheet, in a 4-0 walloping of Australia, in their first match on June 13.
On Friday, Germany will play Serbia who lost 1-0 to Ghana in their opening match of group D. Serbia and Germany have only met once before, the match going 2-1 in favour of Germany; at half time, though, Serbia led 1-0.
Three time World Cup winners, Germany have never failed to reach the quarter final from 1954 onwards. winning 8 out of 10 matches, they breezed through the qualifiers.
The German backs can expect a little more of a run against Serbia than they did against Australia.
In their second World Cup campaign after 2006, Serbia were unlucky not to take a point of Ghana, where apart from a couple of errors, which cost them a player, Lukovic, and a penalty, they gave as good as they got.
Much is expected from Nikola Zigic a towering striker; Serbia will be happy if midfielde Milos Krasic and Milan Jovanovic have another good outing against the Germans.
Skipper Dejan Stankovic had a forgettable match against Ghana, and will seek to lead more effectively to make the Germany match a little more even, for his team. With red-carded Lukovic out of the Serbian side, Neven Subotic is likely to get his chance. In his favour, Subotic's Borussia Dortmund experience means that he is familiar with the German players.
The Serbian back, Nemanja Vidic, will have to play out of his skin to hold the German front line in check; his primary focus should be on Miloslav Klose. Much of the credit fot their win against Australia must go to the vision and creativity of the midfielder trio of Oezil, Khedra and Schweinsteiger. Mesut Oezil had a hand in 2 of the 4 goals scored.
German coach Joachim Loew will be averse to changing a winning team. Cacau may come in as substitute, in the last third.
The Germans should take this game, comfortably although Serbia should give a better account of themselves than Australia.
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Suresh Iyer is an avid sports fan and blogger.
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