{"id":27126,"date":"2014-06-24T14:52:52","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T14:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=27126"},"modified":"2014-06-24T14:52:52","modified_gmt":"2014-06-24T14:52:52","slug":"germans-train-for-usa-with-a-rugby-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=27126","title":{"rendered":"Germans train for USA with a rugby ball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Germany&#8217;s World Cup squad found a novel way to prepare for their final group game against the USA, by training with a rugby ball.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ext-gen135\">Premier League stars Andre Schurrle and Lukas Podolski were at the heart of the action, while Arsenal&#8217;s Mesut Ozil seemed less comfortable with the oval-shaped ball.<\/p>\n<p>The squad looked relaxed and they threw and kicked the rugby ball around, with coach Joachim Low showing off his skills and Podolski practicing his volleying tecnique.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-4f1bcc8fd11c175c\" alt=\"Eye on the ball: Lukas Podolski demonstrated that he can strike a ball with his left foot, whatever the shape\" src=\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2014\/06\/23\/article-0-1F0D589B00000578-530_634x558.jpg\" width=\"634\" height=\"558\" data-track-pos=\"1\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Eye on the ball: Lukas Podolski demonstrated that he can strike a ball with his left foot, whatever the shape<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-32b7d8a33bd8a2e8\" alt=\"Straight through: Mesut Ozil didn't show quite the same ability with the rugby ball as he does with a round ball\" src=\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2014\/06\/23\/article-0-1F0D5A2800000578-123_634x388.jpg\" width=\"634\" height=\"388\" data-track-pos=\"2\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Straight through: Mesut Ozil didn&#8217;t show quite the same ability with the rugby ball as he does with a round ball<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Germany need just a point against the USA on Thursday to ensure that they top Group G, and even a defeat would leave them likely to progress, barring a huge swing in goal difference.<\/p>\n<p>International teams preparing by playing other sports is not an entirely new phenomenon &#8211; Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath famously injured his ankle playing touch rugby before a Test Match in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily for Low and his squad however, the team seemed to come through without any mishaps, and will be keen to seal their last-16 place on Thursday.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-3c23069372adde23\" alt=\"Sun's out, guns out: Podolski and Julian Draxler show off their muscles during a relaxed session\" src=\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2014\/06\/23\/article-0-1F0D6FA600000578-640_634x420.jpg\" width=\"634\" height=\"420\" data-track-pos=\"3\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Sun&#8217;s out, guns out: Podolski and Julian Draxler show off their muscles during a relaxed session<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-4c2475a55d8ea437\" alt=\"Skills: Coach Joachim Low juggles a rugby ball as the German squad enjoy their session\" src=\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2014\/06\/23\/article-0-1F0D7E6A00000578-270_634x439.jpg\" width=\"634\" height=\"439\" data-track-pos=\"4\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Skills: Coach Joachim Low juggles a rugby ball as the German squad enjoy their session<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-32b4eab235763072\" alt=\"Elbows: Cristoph Kramer takes an elbow in the face from Kevin Grosskreutz as they compete for the ball\" src=\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2014\/06\/23\/article-0-1F0D7C1800000578-367_634x407.jpg\" width=\"634\" height=\"407\" data-track-pos=\"5\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Elbows: Cristoph Kramer takes an elbow in the face from Kevin Grosskreutz as they compete for the ball<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-bef99642d3b3947e\" alt=\"On their way: Germany need only a point to progress after beating Portugal and drawing with Ghana\" src=\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2014\/06\/23\/article-2666208-1ED2D8B000000578-158_634x462.jpg\" width=\"634\" height=\"462\" data-track-pos=\"6\" \/><\/div>\n<p>On their way: Germany need only a point to progress after beating Portugal and drawing with Ghana<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Source: Dailymail<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Germany&#8217;s World Cup squad found a novel way to prepare for their final group game against the USA, by training with a rugby ball. Premier League stars Andre Schurrle and Lukas Podolski were at the heart of the action, while Arsenal&#8217;s Mesut Ozil seemed less comfortable with the oval-shaped ball. The squad looked relaxed and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":27135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[115,29,3],"class_list":["post-27126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-armyworms","tag-dr-mahamudu-bawumia","tag-ghana-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}