Who wouldn’t want to be Michael Ballack?

Not the best situation for a team fraught with nerves, approaching some sort of stage fright ahead of their big night.

Today, Ballack talked up Germany’s chances, assuming that his team would qualify for the second round; something his compatriots (and, probably, teammates) do with fingers crossed behind their backs. It was a shrewd bit of mindplay, coming as it did less than a week after he publicly criticized his coach’s tactics and his teammates’ inability to keep clean sheets.

Indeed, that controversy last week offered a fair insight into the man’s confidence: Hours after knocking Jurgen Klinsmann (possibly the one man in he current outfit more unpopular than the captain) he went out and scored one goal, inspired another and had a penalty appeal turned down. Oh, and Germany didn’t concede.

Proof that Ballack may not be loved, but he’s certainly needed. So why, when Ballack can obviously play, does he inspire mixed feelings? Why isn’t he, say, the Zidane of Germany, drawing admiration from all quarters? The current grouse against him is, of course, his transfer to Chelsea for a free transfer worth $ 2,16,000 per week in wages.

Ahead of their international appeal, Bayern Munich are a fiercely proud regional club. The fact that their captain chose money over sentiment — that, too, for upstart Chelsea — grates. Karl-Heinz Rumennigge, the club’s chairman made a pointed reference in a London paper that Ballack wouldn’t be welcomed back by the fans, even for beer and sausages.

It doesn’t help, either, that Ballack is an Ossi, from the former East Germany. Unification hasn’t helped either Germany but those in the West resent the fact that they have had to virtually bankroll the Ossis’ revival.

On the streets of Munich, where Ballack paraded the Bundesliga title less than a month ago, there is a certain ambivalence towards him. Most shrugged their shoulders at the mention of his name, some gave the thumbs-down. Yet Die Welt ran a huge front-page picture of his this morning, so maybe the fans just haven’t come out.

The man himself? The fact that he wears the No 13 jersey offers another hint of his pugnacity, his willingness for the fight (perhaps a legacy of his Ossi background). Over the next few weeks, his team, his manager and his country need that more than ever.And if he delivers? Maybe then we’d all want to be Michael Ballack.