Phillip Buckley

What: FIFA 2010 World Cup
Who: Argentina vs Germany (Quarter-final)
When: Saturday 3rd July, 2010, at 15:00 UK Time
Where: Green Point Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa


Are you nervous Schweinsteiger?

It has almost been completely forgotten just how much Argentina struggled to reach South Africa. Even Diego Maradona was sweating for a while. But tournament football has proven the making of the greatest player the world has ever seen. It’s almost been as if, forced to work with a 23-man squad, unable to deliberate or contemplate, and call up whoever has recently impressed him, the very best has been brought out of Maradona. The 49-year-old has succeeded in building a group who love, even idolise, him. Argentina would run through brick walls for Maradona, and this has shown on the pitch.

Bad blood also runs between these two sides, which could make for a fiery encounter. Argentina are still, four years on, fuming at having been dumped out at the same stage by Germany in the last World Cup, a game which ended in a pitchside brawl. German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has already accused Argentina of trying to influence the referee in their actions both before and during games, leading Maradona to blast back: "What’s the matter with you Schweinsteiger? Are you nervous? We don’t have time to think about Schweinsteiger. The players are thinking about going on to the pitch and getting their revenge".

Maradona will send his troops out with more than just the World Cup at stake, but with pride too. And that motivates an Argentine more than anything else.


Confident of Victory, as Always

"We know South Americans are impulsive and temperamental and cannot lose", said German captain Philipp Lahm. "We’ll see on Saturday how they’ll lose and how they’ll behave after a defeat." And straight away, the full back revealed the thinking in Germany’s camp. Losing is not an option. In fact, it isn’t even contemplated. Germany will win and that’s all their squad believe in. This attitude ensured England were simply brushed aside in the last 16 and again here, against Maradona’s men, Argentina will come under pressure from the off.

Back in Germany the thinking was that the current crop were not yet ripe. Two more years, that’s how long was needed, and then Euro 2012 would be the first tournament to fall to the new-look national side, but this hasn’t been the case. With almost every game, bar Serbia, which can largely be discounted due to the controversial sending off of Miroslav Klose, the Germans have grown and found their feet. In fact, the absence of Michael Ballack from the World Cup may have proven to be a blessing in disguise, as it has allowed the young guns to blossom. Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Sami Khedira and Jerome Boateng have all come of age at this World Cup.

The question is, can Germany continue to defy their doubters and beat Argentina?

Recent form

Argentina:
Argentina 1–0 Nigeria (12/06; World Cup – Group B)
Argentina 4–1 South Korea (17/06; World Cup – Group B)
Greece 0–2 Argentina (22/06; World Cup – Group B)
Argentina 3-1 Mexico (27/06; World Cup – Round of 16)

Germany:
Germany 4–0 Australia (13/06; World Cup – Group D)
Germany 0–1 Serbia (18/06; World Cup – Group D)
Ghana 0-1 Germany (23/06; World Cup – Group D)
Germany 4-1 England (27/06; World Cup – Round of 16)

Players to watch

Argentina – Gonzalo Higuain: To think that it was not too long ago the Real Madrid striker was not guaranteed a spot in Argentina’s starting eleven – how things change. Higuain was initially called up by Maradona for Argentina’s last two qualification games, and the forward did enough to help them out of a sticky spot. Having hit the World Cup running, Higuain has notched up four goals so far. Should Argentina go further, he’ll undoubtedly find the net a few more times.

Germany – Miroslav Klose: After a poor season with Bayern Munich, hardly troubling the statisticians in the goals scored column, Klose has sprung to life in the World Cup. It’s not just about goals though. At 32 years old and with 99 caps – he will win his 100th against Argentina – Klose brings such a steady head and experience to the German side. There will be nerves, no matter what the bullish Germans may say, and Klose can help to settle them.

Match prediction

Both sides come into the game in good form, yet where Germany are already exceeding expectations back home, Argentina are only beginning to meet them. There is also a sense that Diego Maradona’s side can get better, but Germany may already be close to their peak. It’s also difficult to assess the Germans’ 4-1 thrashing of England, simply because the English were so bad. In four years time the Germans would probably line up as favourites for this, but not now. Argentina to win a close game, 3-2.

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