Germany Can't Defend The World Cup - Former Ghana Coach

Former Coach of the senior national team of Ghana Milovan Rajevac believes Germany are not strong enough to defend the World Cup.

The World Champions stumbled in their first game when they lost to Mexico and had to come from a goal down to beat Sweden on Saturday.

Rajevac's whose Ghana side lost to Germany 1-0 in South Africa insists the current squad of the Champions lacks the quality of the sides of 2010 and 2014.

'Germany won't become only the third team to win back-to-back World Cups. The best they can hope for is a semi-final spot, and I wouldn't be surprised if they exit Russia 2018 earlier than that,' he said.

'Germany have had a great generation of players dating back to the 2010 World Cup, but there hasn't been enough renewal of the squad and some of their key players in Russia are past their peak.

'For example, I am certain that the Manuel Neuer of four years ago, when he was the best goalkeeper in the world, would have saved Hirving Lozano's near-post shot which proved to be the only goal of the game.

'I'm not saying Neuer is not a great goalkeeper, but I think the fact that he played just four games for Bayern Munich in an injury-ravaged season naturally means he will not be at the same level he was at in Brazil.

'Further afield, Mesut Oezil, Sami Khedira and Toni Kroos have gone from being key players to question marks for Germany.

'I know how good the trio, and Neuer, can be, they all played when Germany beat my Ghana team in the group stage in 2010.

'Kroos remains a good player, but it's a tough ask for him to be as imperious as he was when Germany won the World Cup four years ago.