GERMANY

Germany's World Cup record: 1934 3rd, 1938 1st rd, 1954 Winners, 1958 4th, 1962 QF, 1966 RU, 1970 3rd, 1974 Winners, 1978 2nd rd, 1982 RU, 1986 RU, 1990 Winners, 1994 QF, 1998 QF, 2002 RU, 2006 3rd.

How Germany qualified for World Cup 2010: European Group 4 winners

The Trainer: Joachim Loew (German, 49). Appointed: July 2006. WC experience: Player: None. Coach: Germany (assistant).

The Country: Germany is identical with the World Cup finals; they have not passed up a finals tournament since 1950 and that record was extended as they booked their place with a 1-0 win away to their group opponent Russia.

Miroslav Klose's first-half strike verified the accomplishment and saw Germany, who played the last 22 minutes with 10 men after Jerome Boateng was sent off, win the group with one round of matches remaining.

Germany has won the World Cup three times, behind only Brazil (five titles) and Italy (four titles). It has came to end as runners-up four times, two more than any other side. In terms of semi-final appearances, Germany leads with 11.It is one more than Brazil's.Brazil's is 10.

In the last 14 World Cup tournaments, Germany has always qualified for the quarter-finals; Germany has also qualified for every one of the 16 World Cups it has gone into - it did not go into the first competition in 1930 for financial reasons, and could not qualify for or compete in the post-war 1950 World Cup as the DFB was reinstated as a Fifa member only two months after this tournament.

But they are a world power. In the finals, the likes of Miroslav Klose and the stable Michael Ballack will fly the flag.