Nothing can be worse for Germany in preparation for their campaign in winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil than losing a key player in Marcus Reus. Reus suffered an ankle ligament tear in Germany's final friendly game against Armenia on Friday night. Immediately on the following morning, the German Football Association went to the press revealing that the 25 year old midfielder will be out for 6-7 months - which basically means that he won't be around for his team in the entire World Cup series.
"Marco was in top form and he had made a fantastic impression during our training camp and in both our games against Cameroon and Armenia. You could just see how much he was enjoying his football. He had played a key role in our considerations for Brazil." said head coach Joachim Low on Saturday
Marcus Reus is renowned in the Football world as a quick, versatile, and savvy attacking midfielder. In his stint with Borussia Dortmund, he won the 2013 DFL Supercup and was awarded Footballer of the Year in Germany two years ago. He is also part of the UEFA Team of the Year two seasons ago. Reus is also the 4th best European footballer according to a recent rankings made by Bloomberg.
Reus impact on the offensive side will be heavily missed by the German squad. With dangerous teams in Portugal, USA, and Ghana, set to face Germany in the group stages of the tournament, Joachim Low will have to look for some one else to anchor the offense for Germany. With the absence of the Borussia Dortmund talisman, the burden will now rest on Klose, along with the likes of Mesut Ozil, Thomas Mueller and Reus' most likely substitute: Lukas Podolski.
But Joachim Low is confident that Germany has enough weapons to go as far as winning the World Cup title in Brazil.
"We've got enough alternatives with Lukas Podolski, Andre Schurrle, Mario Gotze, Thomas Muller, Mesut Ozil, Julian Draxler and Toni Kroos. That is why we have chosen an extra option for the defense. Shkodran impressed us during our training camp, he's fit and we have faith in him. We know we can rely on him 100 per cent." Low said on Saturday.
Indeed, the German squad is stacked with solid players in virtually every position and even with Reus sidelined, they may still have enough fire power to make it out of the group-stages and advance deeper in the tournament. But without Reus, we can only assume how far Germany can go in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
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