Portsmouth midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has issued an apology to Michael Ballack.
Pompey midfielder apologises to German captain after tackle
Portsmouth midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has issued an apology to Michael Ballack for the challenge which shattered his World Cup dreams.
Germany captain Ballack has been ruled out of the tournament in South Africa this summer after Boateng's crunching tackle during Saturday's FA Cup final between Pompey and Chelsea left him with an ankle injury.
Boateng, who will represent Germany's group rivals Ghana in South Africa this summer, says he has offered his apologies to Ballack a number of times.
Apology
"All I can do is apologise," Boateng told
Sport Bild magazine. "I was just too late and I hit him straight on.
"It looked stupid. I apologised to him twice on the field and now for a third time. I am sorry. It was not intentional."
Blues midfielder Ballack is still coming to terms with the fact he is going to miss the World Cup.
"Of course I am angry and it is disappointing," said Ballack. "I don't want to comment on it yet."
Meanwhile, Ballack's agent Michael Becker says taking legal action against the Portsmouth player is still an option and is certain the attack was intentional.
"Every spectator could see what Boateng has done and that was clearly a premeditated foul," said Becker.
"It is not possible that somebody breaks the rules with the intent to cause injury.
"The football field is not outside the law, even if Boateng believes that."
Germany coach Joachim Low is aiming to move on from the bad news as quickly as possible and focus on his squad's preparation ahead of the World Cup.
Objectives
"Clearly it is going to be harder without Ballack, but we still want to reach our objectives," Low told the German football federation's
official website.
"I am still convinced that we will play a successful World Cup."
Low does not plan to bring any new players into his line-up, although that could change should there be any casualties in Bayern Munich's UEFA Champions League final on Saturday.
He added: "We will first of all wait until after the Champions League final and hope that all of Munich's players remain healthy."
