Flanks are Portugal’s key to unlocking slick German machine

At first, the whiz kids offered hope. Now, they have to make it happen.

Four years on from watching a group of elite, unheralded young prospects rock up in South Africa and rip apart the opposition, German fans are gearing themselves up for something more than a semi-final exit in 2014.

Those boys, Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Sami Khedira and Toni Kroos, have grown up and become men. Now in their mid-twenties, with all the medals and riches they could wish for at club level, there’s no hiding place, no excuses. Arsenal’s record signing, Ozil, discovered this recently, when sections of the home support barracked him for dropping standards.

Flanked by the experienced but pedigreed remnants of Germany’s previous talent boom (Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Per Mertesacker and Philipp Lahm), the heat is on Germany, FIFA’s No 2-ranked team, to show the world they’re top dogs in Brazil.

As far as opening group matches go, Joachim Loew would have hoped for something easier. Even though his side have beaten Portugal at three of the past four major tournaments, they face a team regarded as the fourth best on the planet by its governing body.

Any opponent with Cristiano Ronaldo within their ranks has to sharpen the pre-match focus too.

A lunch-time kick off in steamy Salvador won’t be easy for these European players to cope with, but their respective fans back home rightly regard their teams as hot stuff. Neither will relish the thought of cooling excitement with a first-game loss.

OZIL AS A ‘FALSE NINE’

With just the one fully-fledged striker in the squad in 36-year-old Miroslav Klose, coach Loew will continue his experiment with the use of a “false nine”.

I’m no fan of this system but if you’re talented enough to make it work (and Germany, like Spain before them certainly are) then it’s capable of tying the opposition in knots.

With three, sometimes four forward players meandering around the final third willy-nilly, refusing to stand still in one spot, it could be a complete and utter nightmare for defenders to know which Germans they’re supposed to be tracking.

Germany’s hope will be that, amid the confusion, and by wilting at their constant chase for the ball, Portugal will switch off and leave gaps to exploit.

Ozil will probably be asked to spearhead the attack, but don’t expect to see him backing into his former Real Madrid team-mate Pepe, and holding it up for others.

Instead, he’ll do what he does best by showing to feet, and looking to play in runners such as Andre Schurrle, Podolski or Muller.

FLYERS DOWN THE FLANKS

If Germany’s strength lies in their controlled and bewildering possession, Paulo Bento’s approach is much less subtle and refined. He’ll urge his players to feed the two wide men, and take it from there.

He’s wise to play it that way too. His Portugal outfit is workmanlike and dependable, but aside from its wing wonders, they do lack panache.

In Nani, despite his inconsistency, and the prodigiously gifted World Player of the Year Ronaldo, Bento boasts two wild cards that will strike fear in the hearts of any opposition on Brazilian soil.

With Lahm tipped to start as a holding midfielder, full-backs are an area of concern for Germany.

Shorn of options, Low could move central defender Benedikt Howedes to left-back, with pacy Bayern Munich centre-half Jerome Boateng pushed over to the right side of defence to tame Ronaldo’s threat.

If Nani and Ronaldo are able to isolate these two makeshift full-backs, and Germany’s wide men don’t get back to provide cover, Bento’s star turns could very well taste some joy.

CARVALHO v KROOS

The one individual duel that excites me most is between Sporting Lisbon starlet William Carvalho and Bayern’s Rolls-Royce technician Toni Kroos.

Loew is a huge fan of the 24-year-old, not least because he rarely ever gives the ball away. Comfortable in a deep holding role, or further forward, Kroos has the composure and vision to smoothly dictate and destroy top class opposition.

Carvalho, 22, will be told to stop Kroos. Widely regarded as the best player in Portuguese domestic football last season, the international newcomer has an opportunity to send his reputation soaring in Salvador.

If Carvalho can mark Kroos out of this game, he’ll instantly become a red hot target for many of European football’s finest.

Keep your eye on who’s bossing the match in this area of the field.

WILL RONALDO BREAK DOWN?

There’s a growing suspicion that Portugal’s talismanic captain will have to play through the pain barrier this month. He has tendinitis in his knee, and despite starring in a superb 5-1 friendly win against Ireland last week, the Real Madrid ace hasn’t been able to train properly for weeks.

Bento will be keeping his fingers, toes — and anything else he can lay his hands on — crossed, because Ronaldo is irreplaceable.

They don’t have a centre forward of repute — Hugo Almeida is a big but low-scoring target man — while FC Porto’s Silvestre Varela, a reserve, would be capable only of partially filling the void.

Losing their skipper, the man that makes them tick, and their chief goal threat could spell curtains for Portugal’s prospects of progressing.