World Cup 2010 - Injured Ballack out of World Cup

Today *today* *today*... I consider myself *myself* *myself*...

Germany captain Michal Ballack has been ruled out of the World Cup after injuring his ankle in Chelsea's FA Cup final win over Portsmouth.

The German Football Federation (DFB) said Ballack underwent a scan on Monday which showed that he had partially torn a ligament in his right leg.

They said his right ankle would be placed in a cast and he would have to wear a special shoe for two weeks once the cast had been removed.

The DFB said it would be eight weeks before he could resume training. The World Cup starts in South Africa on June 11.

This is a blow to Germany as Ballack is their captain, and could have started for them in the holding midfielder position that he's played for Chelsea since Mikel's knee injury.

But let's not get carried away. It's a personal tragedy for Ballack who misses out. But he was only starting for Chelsea because of Mikel's injury. And if Germany want an aging warrior in that role they probably should have called up Torsten Frings, who just had a great season at Werder Bremen. Instead, we're likely to see Schweinsteiger as the deep-lying middie. It's a role he's taken to quite well at Bayern this season, and that will likely give the Germans a little more dynamism in their attack.

Just be sure to note Schweinsteiger's shift for fantasy World Cup 2010 play. He'll be devalued compared to previous seasons.

And speaking of fantasy World Cup 2010 and successful Bremen midfielders... what this really does is open the door (even further) for Mesut Özil to come in and place his mark on this team and this tournament. He's going to be Germany's attacking hub, and I look to him to be one of this summer's emerging stars.