Budweiser Man of the Match: Michael BALLACK (GER)

20 June 2006

Michael Ballack played a true captain's role in a commanding Germany performance and it earned him the Budweiser Man of the Match honours.

Chelsea’s new midfielder dictated things as the host nation comfortably assured themselves of first place in Group A with a wider margin of victory than might have been predicted before the start.

It was the ability and power of Ballack that helped to crush the South Americans’ spirit and the high point of his performance came when he laid on Miroslav Klose’s second goal with a sublime forward pass. He almost came close to scoring a fourth goal himself but his fierce shot whistled just too high.

“Michael Ballack was the one player who organised the game for a German side containing a lot of good players today,” said FIFA Technical Study Group member Andy Roxburgh. “If you look at the 90 minutes overall, he was the one centrally who had the power and took charge of a lot of the attacks. Additionally he created the second goal which was the decisive one.”