Boateng half brothers on either side at World Cup

Boateng half brothers on either side at World Cup

Published Jun. 23, 2010 6:47 p.m. ET

Kevin-Prince Boateng will play against half brother Jerome Boateng in the Group D match between Ghana and Germany at the World Cup.

Jerome was selected by Germany coach Joachim Loew to play left back instead of Holger Badstuber for Wednesday's match at Soccer City. Loew also picked the Brazil-born Cacau to up front for the suspended Miroslav Klose.

It was Kevin-Prince's foul in the English FA Cup final that forced Germany captain Michael Ballack out of the tournament.

Ghana leads the group with four points, one ahead of Germany.

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Loew had said before the game that Germany would not target Kevin-Prince. Jerome Boateng, who was making his World Cup debut, had said before the game that the two half brothers had not spoken to each other since the start of the tournament.

The two players have the same Ghanaian father and different German mothers. They were born and grew up in Germany, and Kevin-Prince played for Germany's junior teams before switching allegiance.

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Lineups:

Ghana: Richard Kingson; Hans Sarpei, Jonathan Mensah, John Pantsil, Jonathan Mensah, Anthony Annan, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Andre Ayew, Kwadwo Asamoah, Prince Tagoe, Asamoah Gyan.

Germany: Manuel Neuer; Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Arne Friedrich, Jerome Boateng, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sami Khedira, Thomas Mueller, Mesut Oezil, Lukas Podolski, Cacau.

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