To see the FFA's goodwill trip to a South African school...  

Vidosic, 23, plies his trade with Bundesliga club FC Nürnberg and knows the German national team well.

The former Brisbane Roar attacker claims the absence of Ballack, who sustained an ankle in Chelsea's FA Cup final victory over Portsmouth, will be a blow for Germany and says the experience he'd offer will be hard to replace.

"I think Ballack will be a big loss for them, he's the captain and for us it would be like losing Lucas Neill," Vidosic said.

"He's been around the major tournaments and when you have younger players it's always good to have that younger experience."

Vidosic, though, insists Germany's youngsters, such as Mesut Ozil who impressed in the recent 3-1 warm-up win over Bosnia & Herzegovina, will still be dangerous.

"Their younger players are definitely doing particularly well and I think Mesut Ozil is a good chance to start, playing for Werder Bremen and there's some other ones as well," Vidosic said.

Croatia-born Vidosic adds he believes Die Mannschaft shouldn't be ignored as a realistic challenger to lift the trophy in Johannesburg on July 11 despite Ballack's absence.

"Germany is a team that's not mentioned a lot," he said. "They are always rated as one of the favourites but they are never put down as the team to win it.

"But if you look at all the tournaments they've been in they've always been in the finals or the semi-finals.

"I think with the younger blood they've got in the team this year they'll really make a push for it, so we want to stop them on the first day and that's what we're aiming to do."

Australia face Germany in the early hours of June 14, Australia-time, in their Group D opener and Vidosic knows first-hand how difficult the Socceroos task will be against Joachim Loew's youthful side.

Vidosic, who scored in Australia's recent 2-1 triumph over New Zealand, is now hoping to win a spot in the Socceroo first-team to face familiar faces.

"I've played against most of them and I've basically played against their whole starting eleven so I know them pretty well," Vidosic said.

"Of course, if the opportunity came it would be unbelievable to play on probably the greatest stage in any sporting event.

"It will be Pim Verbeek's decision and he'll know the best eleven and whichever players come as as subs. It doesn't matter who's out there, they will do a great job."

Vidosic may get an opportunity in the starting-eleven should Brett Emerton fail to fully recover from a calf injury.

The Nürnberg man added: "We're all friends so no one wants anyone to be injured. It's not the best feeling as the World Cup only comes once every four years and you don't want anyone to be injured for that."

To see the FFA's goodwill trip to a South African school...