Posted on 06/29/2006 10:46:37 PM PDT by soccer_maniac
The Elite Eight!! The quarterfinal round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany gets underway Friday with a pair of highly-anticipated matches. The hosts kick things off against Argentina in Berlin (10:55 a.m. ET; ESPN). Italy will face Ukraine in the day's second game (2:55 p.m.; ESPN2).
Two of the quarterfinals are rematches of championship games: Brazil-France (1998) and Germany-Argentina (1986 and 1990).
(Excerpt) Read more at fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ...
Face it. The German team has had a absolute cakewalk schedule till now.
Their first real test is tomorrow.
Yes, and I'm half German and love the country. But I'm rooting for England now that the US blew it.
Plus the English fans have caused a national panic in Germany having drunk almost all available beer. Now thats a accomplishment!
How about an England - Argentina final?
Head-to-heads
Germany have played Argentina on 16 previous occasions. The Germans have won five times and Argentina seven. Four matches have been drawn. The two nations have met on four previous occasions in World Cups including the finals of 1986 and 1990. Germany have the upper hand with two wins to one. The 1966 fixture was drawn.
Their most recent fixture was in last year's Confederations Cup and ended in a 2-2 draw. Neither of Germany's goalscorers, Kuranyi and Asamoah, will start this match. Argentina's two goals were netted by Riquelme and Cambiasso.
Team facts - Germany
Germany have reached seven World Cup finals in their 16 appearances, winning three (1954, 1974, 1990). Since the victory in 1954, Germany have only been eliminated before the semi-finals on three occasions, all against nations from Eastern Europe (1962, 1994 and 1998).
Germany have won seven of their last eight matches, including all four in this tournament, keeping clean sheets in each of the last three. Their record winning streak in World Cups is five between 1954 and 1962.
Team facts - Argentina
Argentina's best World Cup performances came in 1978 and 1986 when they won the World title. They've been eliminated from the competition at the quarter-final stage on two occasions (1966 and 1998). They also failed to progress from a quarter-final group stage in 1982.
Argentina are now unbeaten in their last five World Cup matches which is two shy of their all-time record of seven in 1986 when they lifted the silverware in Mexico.
Player facts - Germany
Torsten Frings will miss a potential semi-final match if he receives a yellow card against Argentina.
Miroslav Klose has a total of nine World Cup goals and is one away from becoming the 12th player in World Cup history to net 10 goals. Gerd Muller (14), Jurgen Klinsmann (11) and Helmut Rahn (10) are the other Germans on the list.
Player facts - Argentina
Both Gabriel Heinze and Juan Pablo Sorin will miss a potential semi-final match if they receive a yellow card.
Hernan Crespo has scored in the last four World Cup matches he has played in, and is the first player to score in three different matches in this 2006 tournament. Captain Roberto Ayala won his 104th cap in the second round match and is now just two away from his country's record of 106 held by Diego Simeone.
Miscellaneous Info
The hosts have won six of the previous 17 World Cup editions. Germany also hosted the World Cup in 1974, when they emerged victorious by defeating Holland in the final.
Germany's Arne Friedrich plays for Hertha Berlin, and therefore if selected will be playing in familiar surroundings, as this match is being staged in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
¡Dale, Argentina!
Miroslav Klose, Germany striker: We’re not particularly nervous about facing Argentina, even though they’re a strong side and one of the favourites for the title. Now that they have had the misfortune to come up against us, we hope we can send them home.
Carlos Tevez, Argentina forward: The key to beating Germany? Fight to the death. As well as that we have to play football and keep the ball on the ground, but first and foremost we have to fight.
Klose is damn good. He makes me nervous. Argentina's defense is going to get a workout. I still hope they can pull it off.
Its going to be a great game, thats for sure.
Germany has a huge home court advantage. Berlin stadium is enormous and I'm sure the majority of fans will be German.
But you never know.
I would love to see a Germany - England final.
Soccer - The sport invented by wussies for wussies.
What time is the game for West Coast Residents?
And it would be a nice "in your face" to England, fourty years after 1966...
LOL, I´m in Germany and we´ve still plenty of beer. Do you believe all the crap that´s in a British paper? :-) Seriously, neither we´re short of beer nor is there a "national panic". There may be a final England-Germany, I´d like that.
Oh, and if you say we had a cakewalk: SWE-ENG 0:0, GER-SWE 2:0.
Hmm, I think I saw him punch the ball in that video :-)
England Argentina would be a close second-best final. But the final isn't in Buenos Aires, so come on Germany!
It´s 5 pm in Berlin, so 11 am in New York, 08 am in LA, right?
Yep, 8 am here in LA.
The Germany-Argentina match is the one I've looked most forward to during this cup.
Might be because it's been 2 days with a game!
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