Salvador (Brazil): Germany kick-off their World Cup campaign on Monday aiming to continue their domination of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal at recent major tournaments.
The Germans enjoyed wins over Portugal at the 2006 World Cup, plus both of the last two European championships and want to get their Group G campaign off to a flying start with a fourth consecutive win.
The Salvador clash is a re-run of Portugal’s Euro 2012 opener against Germany, when they went down 1-0 to a second-half Mario Gomez goal.
The pre-match build-up in Salvador has focused on whether or not Ronaldo will be fit to play after a knee and thigh injury.
The 29-year-old took a full part in Portugal’s training session on Saturday with team-mates William Carvalho and goalkeeper Eduardo both saying he will play.
Eduardo insists the Portugal squad are highly motivated to erase memories of a “disastrous” 2010 campaign which ended in the last 16 at the hands of eventual winners Spain.
But all eyes have been on the world player of the year’s recovery, despite Ronaldo’s return to play 65 minutes of Portugal’s final warm-up in their 5-1 drubbing of Ireland.
The Real Madrid forward, whose form and fitness will be vital to Portugal’s chances, has had a heavy strapping on his knee in training.
But as Germany defender Benedikt Hoewedes pointed out: “This isn’t Germany against Ronaldo, but Germany against Portugal”.
Germany midfielder Sami Khedira claims his Real team mate has told him this is Portugal’s time to break their German bogey. (AFP)
