Germany v Argentina
Football : FIFA World Cup 2010 : Quarter Final
Saturday, 3rd July 2010 – kickoff 16:00

Germany

The 4-1 win over England made German national team even more confident that they can go all the way in this tournament. In the last match, they outplayed the English squad and all lines in the team functioned very well.

Now Germany will face a very tough challenge playing with Argentina which will be a great match to watch and probably another classic. This would be sixteenth time for Germans to play in the quarterfinals at the World Cup history.

The biggest strength of this German team is that they play as one unit, all players and lines in the team help each other and they have a good discipline in their way of playing. Coach Loew said that they will have to repeat the performance against England in order to beat Argentina and go further.

Germany will play once again in usual formation with one striker - Miroslav Klose and two offensive midfielders behind him – Mesut Ozil and Lucas Podolski. Thomas Muller, Sami Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger will take their places in the midfield and the captain Phillip Lahm, Arne Friedrich, Per Mertesacker and Jerome Boateng will be the defenders in front of Manuel Neuer. Arne Friedrich will be the player assigned to guard Messi and be his shadow in this match.

This will be a repeat from the quarter final match at the World Cup 2006 when Germany and Argentina played for 2-2 draw and then the Germans went on to win the game on penalties.

Argentina

Argentina are a team which impressed me the most at this World Cup. Their way of playing and how they roll over their opponents is great to watch. Their last 3-1 win over Mexico in the Round of 16 was ninth straight win for Argentina.

Maradona has 23 top class players to choose from and no wonder that some star players have to sit at the bench. Maradona will once again use a very offensive formation with three strikers - Leo Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez who proved to be a deadly trio of strikers.

The attack is probably the best part of the team. Higuain and Tevez have scored six goals combined so far, and now it`s probably the best time for Messi to shine and get himself at the scoring list.

There were some reports of unrest in the Argentina camp with some players complaining about not getting enough playing time (Veron) or playing out of their usual position (Gutierez) but those rumors were quickly quashed by Maradona.

Good news for the team is that defender Walter Samuel could return in the starting line up after quickly recovering from his hamstring injury which he had picked up in the group match against South Korea. He is still doubtful, but there is chance he will find himself in the starting eleven.

The Betting Verdict

This should be another classic World Cup encounter. Enough is said about both teams who have great individuals. Maybe Argentina have bigger star names and players, but also Germany play great as a team.

I think that this would be an open match and possibly this could end up the same it did in 2006 – the winner to be known after shooting penalties or after extra time. Both teams will be focused and hyped up to win so i expect few goals here.

The match can go either way but i think it will be a draw after 90 minutes.

The Pick :

Germany 2-2 Argentina

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take this match to end in a draw after regular time.