We’ve already seen David Villa hit the shelf with a thigh strain in Spain’s Semi-Final win and now it looks as if Germany’s midfield engine might miss out as well.

Chelsea’s Micheal Ballack has been unable to train since Friday with what Head Coach Joachim Low has described as a calf injury.

It’s really no surprise that you’re starting to see players breaking down physically (look at Turkey as a great example) as more and more games are heading into extra time to decide the winner and the further you go, the more games you play without a great amount of recovery time in between matches.