With the quarter-final cracker between Germany and Argentina just days away, the war of words is being cranked up
Argentina coach Diego Maradona is already boasting he will send Germany home after the game, which takes place on Saturday at 4pm.
After four victories, ten goals scored and just two conceded, he is brimming with confidence.
“We know Germany are a different team to the side we faced in Mexico. They are stronger,” Diego said. “We will find the best team, the elite team, to play Germany. It will be the team that gives me guarantees to win the game".
By elite team he means, of course, his stars like Gonzalo Higuaín, Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez.
Maradona's sole objective is to claim the World Cup trophy: "We didn't come here for a vacation, we came to leave our skin here to make the Argentina people proud of us”.
Crazy Diego!
He won the World Cup as a player in 1986. Now he wants to win it in 2010 in his first as coach.
Maradona knows only too well how it is to lose to Germany: In 1990 he lost the World Cup final when Andy Brehme scored the only goal from the penalty spot.
And four of the German heroes from then are giving Diego short shrift.
Germany's most capped player Lothar Matthäus (49): "Dear Diego, your journey will be ended on Saturday. But if you want to celebrate the World Cup with us, you are very welcome to join in".
Rudi Völler (50): "Sounding off is part of the business. But we have a very good chance of winning the game".
Thomas Hassler (44) joked: "Diego? He’s only sitting on the bench".
And Guido Buchwald (49), nicknamed ‘Diego’ because he nullified the threat of Maradona in 1990, does not take him seriously: "This is the usual chatter. The Gauchos are vulnerable at the back".
