Let´s see how Argentina like losing, taunts Lahm

With Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final fast approaching, Germany captain Philipp Lahm has insisted his side are cool, calm and collected – and looking forward to inflicting defeat on Argentina.

On Wednesday, German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger opened a war of words between the two bitter rivals by branding the Argentinians ‘disrespectful’.

In response, Argentina coach Diego Maradona accused Schweinsteiger of being nervous of facing his star-studded side, but Lahm has said the Germans are looking forward to seeing how the South Americans cope with losing.

“We have to focus on the task at hand, we know the Argentinians will be a tough game, we need to be cool and it remains to be seen how the South Americans deal with another defeat on Saturday,” said a straight-faced Lahm.

The bad-blood between the sides stems from four years ago when Germany beat Argentina 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out at the quarter-final stage at the last World Cup at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.

This time, with a semi-final place again at stake, there will be plenty of pressure on referee Ravshan Irmatov from Uzbekistan and Lahm says his side will need to make sure they keep their discipline in Cape Town.

Germany picked up five yellow cards in their shock 1-0 defeat to Serbia in the group stages and had striker Miroslav Klose sent off for a second yellow.

Against Argentina, six German players – including Lahm and Schweinsteiger – are in danger of missing the semi if they get another booking.

“Referees have to act according to the rule book, we had problems against Serbia and Australia, because the referees tend to be a bit card happy, so we have to be careful,” said Lahm.

“Bastian said what he said, we know the South Americans are on the temperamental side, they are hot-headed and they hate losing. We’ll just see how they lose on the pitch and see how they react after that.”

Attacking midfielders Lukas Podolski and Mesut Ozil missed training with slight strains on Wednesday, but both are expected to play.

Brazil-born striker Cacau, who is recovering from a pulled stomach muscle, did some light jogging, but is unlikely to play against Argentina.

Lahm says his side are relishing the chance to claim a major World Cup scalp and have been looking forward to Saturday’s clash since Sunday’s 4-1 win over England in the Round of 16.

“Since the final whistle against England, we have been looking forward to the Argentina game and the build up starts as soon as we get on the plane this afternoon,” said Lahm.

“We have a lot of qualities to offer and whenever we act as a collective unit, we are able to impose our game on the opposition, but everyone must play at the top of their game if we are to beat a team as strong as Argentina.”

Despite their impressive win over England, Lahm says there is no danger of his side being over-confident.

“We will be playing against one of the top favourites to win the World Cup, no one is underestimating this opponent, there is no way we can go into this game with over-inflated optimism,” he said.

“We have to show the world we can beat a team like Argentina. Now the big teams are waiting for us and it would be great if we can beat a big opponent.

“Teams like Brazil, Spain, Holland and Argentina are definitely stronger than England.”