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Germans: Argentina shows no respect


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ERASMIA, South Africa -- Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger accuses World Cup quarterfinals rival Argentina of showing no respect for opponents and referees, and urges his teammates not to be provoked.

Germany eliminated Argentina on penalty kicks four years ago at the same stage and there were chaotic scenes after the shootout, with both sides exchanging punches and kicks in a fracas that included team officials from both benches.

"The shootout is still in our memory, but what really weighs heavily on our minds is what happened after that match," Schweinsteiger said Wednesday. "We have to remain calm and not get provoked and I hope the referee will be very alert.

"You could see their behavior at halftime of the game against Mexico. When you look at their body language and gesticulations, the way they try to influence the referees, they have no respect. It's their mentality and character and we'll have to adjust."

Mexico and Argentina players had to be separated as they headed for the tunnel at halftime of the teams' second-round game, with the Mexicans furious over Argentina's first goal that came when scorer Carlos Tevez clearly was offside.

Argentina won 3-1.

Schweinsteiger also accused Argentine fans of taking the places of others in the stadiums and refusing to move. It was not clear where he got his evidence from.

But the midfielder praised Argentina as a team, saying the squad coached by Diego Maradona was better in "every sector" than the team Germany beat four years ago.

Schweinsteiger singled out veteran Juan Sebastian Veron.

"He has played very strongly here. I have been impressed," Schweinsteiger said.

Schweinsteiger repeated that stopping Argentina star Lionel Messi will need a strong "collective effort."

"Other teams also have done it. He hasn't scored yet and we want to keep it that way," said Schweinsteiger, who has played 78 games for Germany although he is still just 25.

"We'll find the right game plan to hurt Argentina, although we know how strong Argentina is. At this level, you can't make mistakes, it's the details that decide the match."

Thomas Mueller, who scored twice against England, could be the deciding factor in the match, which might be embarrassing to Maradona.

By now, he should have heard of Mueller. The last time Argentina played Germany in a friendly in March, Maradona felt so slighted when Mueller sat on the podium with him at the postmatch news conference that he stormed off and refused to return until Mueller left the stage to the coach alone.

Mueller had just made his debut for Germany then. Now, he leads his team at the World Cup with three goals.

Coach Joachim Loew said forward Cacau is unlikely to recover from a right thigh injury in time for the match.

Argentina beat Germany 1-0 with relative ease in that March friendly in Munich. Schweinsteiger said that result meant little.

"One, it was a friendly. Two, they did not create many chances either. Three, we have gained a lot of confidence by beating England and the good tactics we used in that game," Schweinsteiger said.

Germany advanced to the quarterfinal with a 4-1 win.

Schweinsteiger said he expected the upcoming match to be a tactical affair, "just as it was in 2006."

Argentina has only one win over Germany at the World Cup, in the 1986 final when Maradona was still playing. Overall in the World Cup, they have met five times and twice in the final.

Maradona led Argentina to that 3-2 win in Mexico, while in Italy in 1990, Germany won 1-0 on a penalty kick. Those were also the last times either team won the World Cup.

Germany won a group match 3-1 in 1958 and the two teams drew 0-0 in another group match in 1966.

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Maradona taunts Schweinsteiger

Argentina manager thinks that Germany are nervous

Last updated: 1st July 2010   

Argentina boss Diego Maradona has produced his latest bizarre slant on international management by taunting Bastian Schweinsteiger ahead of the World Cup quarter-final against Germany.

Schweinsteiger has recently attacked Argentina's behaviour following the last-eight clash four years ago, when Germany progressed to the semi-finals on penalties.

The Bayern Munich midfielder followed up by accusing the South Americans of whingeing to referees and using provocative tactics to wind-up opponents.

But Maradona has responded in a television interview when he turned directly to a camera and in an imitation German accent said: "What's the matter Schweinsteiger? Are you nervoussh?"

Maradona, who has already got himself into wars of words with Pele and Michel Platini at this World Cup, added: "It doesn't worry me what he says about penalties and that we don't know how to lose. It doesn't interest us.

"A different game is played every match and this is going to be different because we are coming out to attack them and play in their faces.

"This is what has made them nervous."[/Quote]

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FABIO CAPELLO and his England flops were put to shame by a bunch of German boffins.

SunSport can reveal boss Joachim Low has the backing of a crack team of number-crunchers in Cologne.

The German Football Federation (DfB) employ 62 top under-graduates to study every detail of the national team's rivals and they report to chief scout Urs Siegenthaler.

He sifts through a huge volume of info - dubbed "the encyclopedia" - before briefing the team.

Compare that to the two VT operators England's £6million-a-year boss Capello uses for his preparation and it is clear the gulf in class on the pitch was reflected off it.

Germany confessed they changed their tactics against England thanks to the information Siegenthaler gave them.

Skipper Philip Lahm revealed: "It was visible we changed our tactics a bit against England and were optimally prepared, that's why we won. We knew what to expect."

A DfB official said: "Our team of students is based in the German University of Sport in Cologne.

"The DfB has a small part of it where coaches get their qualifications on a year's course. Christian Ziege and Markus Babbel have just done theirs.

"There are students studying degrees to become sports administrators or club executives and we use them to study teams.

"Because of our connections with broadcasters we get footage of all the games so we know everything about individual players and their teams.

"They get paid but it's not expensive. They have analysed the Argentinians for us just as they analysed England."

The revelations will heap more pressure on FA bigwigs who are deciding whether to keep Capello.

It also brings Capello's methods into question as, despite his huge salary, he appeared under-prepared throughout England's catastrophic campaign.

Germany's team manager Oliver Bierhoff said: "Preparation for any game is key. You have to have as much info as possible. Thanks to technology we have it."

SNM

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Guest Triple XXX

lmao true stories

swear England used to have psychologists or whatever, they used them when they won the rugby world cup with Wilkinson n that n i swear they did it with football too

now they jus dont care

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