Germany’s defense under spotlight

Questions have been raised about the reliability of Germany’s defense and the speed of its anchor,Per Mertesacker,whose match experience since February has been limited to two friendlies.

But coach Joachim Loew appears ready to take the risk with the center back for Germany’s European Championship opener against Portugal and its star forward Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday. Germany’s fans were horrified by the 5-3 loss to Switzerland in the first of the two warm-up games before Euro 2012,when Mertesacker looked more like the odd-man-out than the pillar of stability. Then Mertesacker got a new partner in central defense,Holger Badstuber,and things looked a lot smoother in the 2-0 win over Israel.

Mertesacker needed surgery after sustaining an injury to his right ankle playing for Arsenal in February.