Injured Germany captain Michael Ballack (c) stands with current captain Phillip Lahm (left) and coach Leow. Ballack predicted Germany will beat Argentina 3-1.
Argentina vs Germany
Argentina and Germany set off for the World Cup with huge doubts about their prospects but they meet in Saturday’s quarter-final in hot form with a great chance for the winners to go all the way to the final.
A war of words has erupted ahead of the match with Germany’s players accusing the Argentines of lacking respect and Diego Maradona talking of revenge for an unsavoury defeat on penalties at the same stage of the last World Cup.
Yet when his team suffered a 6-1 humiliation by Bolivia and back-to-back defeats by Brazil and Paraguay, the fans despaired of even qualifying for the finals and Maradona was vilified for his scattergun selection policy.
Argentina eventually scraped through but after being outplayed by Spain in a November friendly, few considered them one of the main contenders in South Africa.
Yet despite, or maybe because of, the manic exhortations of their iconic leader, they have put together nine successive victories to emerge as the team everyone wants to avoid.
Maradona has produced a happy, settled squad and has shown excellent man-management skills in praising the contribution of Lionel Messi despite the forward’s failure to score.
Messi has been a constant threat but, while awaiting his first goal, those around him have come good with Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez netting six of their tournament-leading 10.
Jonas Gutierrez could come in on the left for Angel Di Maria to add attacking width against Germany with Juan Sebastian Veron back to form a stable midfield base alongside Javier Mascherano.
“We have to try to find the best team, the ‘gala team’ to play against Germany,” said Maradona, who captained his country to success over the Germans in the 1986 final but lost to them in the decider four years later.
Their meeting at the last World Cup, when Germany reached the semi-finals after winning on penalties in a game that ended in an unseemly brawl, has been to the fore this week with Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger stoking the fires.
“If you see how they gesticulate, how they try to influence the referee… that is not part of the game, that is a lack of respect,” he said.
Maradona responded by asking: “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 onto the pitch, in getting their revenge.”
A series of injuries, including the loss of captain Michael Ballack, forced coach Joachim Loew to reassess his forces and the young side he has put together have, as Germany so often do in tournaments, has gelled expertly just when it matters.
Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose, set to win his 100th cap have rewarded Loew’s faith, Thomas Mueller has added attacking sharpness and Mesut Ozil has brought vigour to midfield. Skipper Philipp Lahm says it is the best Germany side he has played in.
Loew also showed his tactical nous when he hatched a plan to expose England with exhilarating counter-attacks and his team put it into action perfectly in their 4-1 second-round victory.
Loew, set to be without injured striker Cacau, said he had something similar in store for Argentina in the battle to face Spain or Paraguay in the semi-finals.
“I expect an unbelievably tight match as we cannot allow ourselves any mistakes because they have so many players able to score,” he said. “But Argentina can be hurt. We have found some details of their weaknesses.”
Paraguay vs Spain
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque believes his players are ready to make history: They can start by winning a World Cup quarterfinal for the first time.
Surprisingly, Spain has never advanced to a semifinal match at a World Cup in four opportunities between 1934 and 2002.
Standing in its way at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park on Saturday is a resolute Paraguay team that is the most successful ever sent to a World Cup from the South American nation.
“We know we’re in good shape,” del Bosque said Thursday. “It’s been more than 30 days together training as a team and I think these players want to make history.”
Spain has once reached the last four at a World Cup, at the quirky 1950 tournament when just 13 teams showed up in Brazil and the four group winners advanced to a round-robin pool to decide the honors.
When the World Cup format has used a knockout bracket, Spain has always been stopped at the quarterfinals stage.
Spain lost to South Korea on penalties after a goalless draw in a 2002 matchup remembered for disputed referee calls, and Roberto Baggio lifted Italy to a 2-1 victory in 1994. In 1986, Belgium prevailed in a shootout after a 1-1 draw, and 1934 host Italy ousted the Spanish 1-0 in a replay.
Del Bosque would not be drawn to suggest the European champion has a golden chance to break the streak, and earn a final four tie against Argentina or Germany.
“If you had to choose one of the other seven who reached the quarterfinals, I don’t know which one would be the easiest,” he said.
“Paraguay, like all of the South American teams, show so much character, with players who exercise great pressure. They are players who know their trade, with the ball or without and they have a similar style to Chile, who we already know about.”
Spain won that match 2-1 to top Group H despite losing its opener 1-0 against a Switzerland side that frustrated by defending in depth just like the Paraguayans shape to do Saturday.
“We’d all like to play nicely, scoring five goals a game and sometimes that happens,” midfielder Andres Iniesta said. “There are good moments and difficult moments but what’s important is that we’re in the quarterfinals.”
Paraguay arrives at this stage on the back of three straight shutouts by its defense, and a perfect five-for-five record in the penalty shootout against Japan when the teams’ second-round game was goalless after extra time.
Goalkeeper Justo Villar expects more of the same “hard work and tactics” against Spain.
“It’s going to be a good match where you will see two types of football,” Villar said. “One side trying to attack skillfully while we try to stop them and then try to take advantage of our chances.”
Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino is still looking for a first goal from his forward line in South Africa.
However, two of Spain’s squad know all about their opponent’s attacking potential.
Forward Fernando Llorente and midfielder Javi Martinez were in an Athletic Bilbao team which lost 3-1 to the Paraguayans in a friendly match in March.
“It’s a team to be wary of,” Llorente said. “They gave us a good romping and the feeling I got was that this is a team with a coach who does his job well, with players of great ability who play in big teams in Europe.”
Llorente impressed when he came off the bench minutes before David Villa scored the only goal _ his fourth, to share the tournament lead in Spain’s second-round victory over Portugal on Tuesday.
However, Del Bosque is expected to keep the same starting lineup with Liverpool’s Fernando Torres partnering new Barcelona signing Villa.
Backup defender Raul Albiol is almost certain to be unavailable to an ankle injury, while midfielder Javi Martinez trained normally on Friday after hurting his right ankle a day earlier.
