World Cup 2010: Germans confident of taming Maradona’s Argentina in the quarter-final
Germany, who shocked the world when they defeated England in round of 16 are confident that they can get pass Maradona’s Argentina as well. Germany hammered England with four goals in Bloemfontein on Sunday. Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose and double from Thomas Mueller sent England to obscurity of world football.
Now they are ready to take another surprise package of the World Cup. Argentina, who was considered outsiders before the start of the World Cup are now frontrunners to lift the trophy. Maradona has wronged his critics and sceptics after Argentina displayed one of the most entertaining football of the World Cup. Germany will be facing Argentina in Cape Town on Saturday. Germany has also produced one of the stunning displays in this World Cup. Germany, who has one of the youngest squad defeated likes of Australia, Ghana and England to reach last eight. Now Maradona and his talented squad are standing between young Germans and the last four.
According to German midfielder Sami Khedira, the key for German team will be to control Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. He said, “Messi is a difficult player to play against, if not the best in the world, there is no way one player can keep him at bay for the full 90 minutes. It will be a team effort and we may have to put several players on him.”
Germany is confident that their young side are maturing with the progress of the tournament and will be no pushover for Argentina. German players in form of Oliz, Mueller or Khedira may not be as famous to their English or Argentinean counterparts but their performance is nonetheless impressive. According to veteran German striker Miroslav Klose, who scored his 50th goal on his 99th appearance for the national side against arch-rival England, their team are being rewarded for playing as unit.
He said, “If you look at the two sides, you have to say Argentina look stronger on paper, but the same went for England, they were better known and are more famous than us, but that wasn’t represented on the pitch.” The current German squad has an average age under 25, but Klose says that the youth provide team with needed energy and flair.
Argentina will be coming to this match to take revenge of their defeat in last World Cup by Germans. Argentina lost 4-2 on penalties to Germany at the quarter-final stage four years ago at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. Therefore, Maradona will be looking to settle the score when they meet in Cape Town. Talking to reporters, Maradona said, “We will take stock of our situation, then we will try and put together the best team to showcase our talents against Germany. It will be the team to give us the guarantee to overcome Germany.”
Argentina came to the last eight after they ousted Mexico in Johannesburg. South Americans won the match with the score of 3-1. Like the England-German match, this fixture was also not without controversy. Carlos Tevez first half goal was controversial, as replays showed him clearly on offside position. However, Maradona was apathetic to Mexican pain, as he took the opportunity to point out the tackles made out on his star player Messi. World player of the year was fouled five times. When asked about Tevez’s goal and the reaction of Mexican coach Javier Aguirre, Maradona said, “He would have felt the same way I do when Messi is playing and he gets kicked around, but the referee doesn’t act.”
Argentina will be coming to this quarter-final fixture unbeaten and with lots of goals in their pocket. Meanwhile, Germany showed some cracks when they were defeated by Serbia in group match. Young Germans were clearly in pressure during that match. Nevertheless, they raised their game in subsequent matches to book their match with the South Americans. Now it will be interesting to see if they could match the trickster of Argentineans with the nonchalant German style of football.
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