Johnson moves up to halt Germany

Great Britain's men begin the most critical part of their Olympic preparations here this evening when they face Germany in their opening game of the Four Nations' Tournament.

Great Britain's men begin the most critical part of their Olympic preparations here this evening when they face Germany in their opening game of the Four Nations' Tournament.

They play the Dutch, world and Olympic Champions, tomorrow and on Sunday complete their programme against South Korea. Both Germany and the Netherlands are in Britain's pool in Sydney

After two training sessions since arriving, the coach, Barry Dancer, has no major injuries worries to temper his team selection.

The Great Britain manager, David Whittle, said: "Brett Garrard is back and is continuing to impress albeit that he is not fully match fit yet. That will take a few weeks to get there but he is going in the right direction."

An interesting positional change is likely. Twenty-year-old Michael Johnson may be moved into the right midfield from defence in an effort to strengthen the midfield. It will be interesting to see how he teams up with Garrard.

Britain lost 4-0 to Germany when the teams met at the end of May in the Champions' Trophy. Their opponents staged a demonstration in the art of defending, punishing heavily Britain's lapses of concentration. Will Britain have learnt from that experience?

Great Britain squad: J Wyatt (capt), M Pearn, S Mason (all Reading), J Halls, B Sharpe, C Parnham, M Johnson (all Cannock), J Wallis (Teddington), D Hall, G Fordham (both Guildford), T Bertram (Bournville), D Luckes, B Garrard, C Giles (all Surbiton), B Waugh (Southgate), D Hacker (Canterbury). Reserves: S Head (Surbiton), Manpreet Kochar (Reading).