.

Germany must stay strong

Germany beat Argentina on penalties at the same stage at 2006, while West Germany and the South Americans contested consecutive finals in 1986 and 1990, sharing a win apiece.

Neither side could be described as lacking in confidence, but Schweinsteiger believes Diego Maradona's men try and get their own way with officials.

"If you saw Argentina versus Mexico, in the half-time break the referee was really hard hit," he said.

"We have already seen how the Argentine fans sit together in spite of the fact that those are not their proper seats, and they stop other spectators with the correct tickets to go elsewhere.

"I think that shows that Argentina are very self-confident asserting their own rights and even non-existing rights.

"The first thing is that we must not allow ourselves to be provoked in any way.

"And I do hope the referee will nip in the bud any such efforts on the part of Argentina.

"We just mustn't be lured into responding in kind."

Schweinsteiger also ruled out any premeditated tactics to take Argentina's star player, Lionel Messi, out of the game.

He said: "If a player has the ball for a longer period of time, then it's a matter of course that you must foul him sooner or later.

"But I don't think there's any player in the German squad...it's just not our style to deliberately go about fouling opponents. It's something that is just not in our character."

"Lionel Messi, it goes without saying, that he is a player that can weave his way through two to three players and then create space either for himself or for one of his team-mates.

"So we've got to make a collective effort to try and stop him. Other teams have been successful at it because he hasn't scored a goal yet and I hope it's going to stay that way against us.

"But while he is in the focus, there are plenty of other players that are dangerous, so we'll have to keep a watchful eye on them as well."

Source: CBSsports.com

0 comments:

Leave a Reply

Google News