SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL / SOCCER - WORLD CUP 2010 - German midfielder Sami Khedira says his team can beat Argentina in their World Cup quarter-final clash in Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday

Record ID: 455868

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL / SOCCER - WORLD CUP 2010 - German midfielder Sami Khedira says his team can beat Argentina in their World Cup quarter-final clash in Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday
  • Date: 24th June 2010
  • Summary: ERASMIA, NEAR PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (JUNE 28, 2010) (REUTERS) GERMAN PLAYER SAMI KHEDIRA AT NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF KHEDIRA SPEAKING KHEDIRA SPEAKING AT PODIUM WITH WORLD CUP BALLS ON THEM JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN MIDFIELDER SAMI KHEDIRA SAYING: "In March, we played against Argentina, too. And Messi was there, too. I think he is the world's best player right now. You can't switch him off over 90 minutes. But we as a collective (team), same as we played yesterday, when everybody helps the others, when somebody is on the right place at the right time, then we can stop a player like Lionel Messi. But they have other, extremely strong players, too. I have seen that yesterday. But we don't have to hide from them, we know our qualities. And so I am really confident, that we have a chance against Argentina." PHOTOGRAPHER SAMI KHEDIRA AND GERMAN PLAYER MIROSLAV KLOSE AT NEWS CONFERENCE KLOSE SPEAKING EXTERIOR OF KLOSE AND KHEDIRA AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FORWARD MIROSLAV KLOSE SAYING "Where we get our self-confidence from? We have some kind of quality. And you can see it in the training sessions every day. I said it a lot of times: it is really important to believe in yourself, to present the team as a real team on the pitch. I think, we put England under pressure yesterday. We were present, we as a team have shown our presence. The players of England not." PHOTOGRAPHER KLOSE IN CAMERA-VIEWFINDER AND ON TV MONITOR KLOSE AND KHEDIRA AT NEWS CONFERENCE, VARIOUS JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN MIDFIELDER SAMI KHEDIRA SAYING: "I think if you want to win the World Cup, then you have to try to beat each and every opponent. Yesterday we gave proof of our top preparation. Same with the match against Argentina. We concentrate ourselves exclusively on Argentina. We are not thinking about what can happen, what or who can come after this match, that makes no sense." JOURNALISTS, VARIOUS KLOSE AND KHEDIRA AT NEWS CONFERENCE, VARIOUS EXTERIOR OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FORWARD MIROSLAV KLOSE SAYING "TV evidence is for sure a right thing. What I meant was the chip in the ball, in that case the referee gets a signal in his earpiece, that tells him the ball was inside. If we have this technology, like it is already being used in ice hockey and football, so why should it be different in soccer?" PHOTOGRAPHER EXTERIOR OF NEWS CONFERENCE (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) SAMI KHEDIRA AND MIROSLAV KLOSE POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS
  • Embargoed: 9th July 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAA59F0LJ4XHATVGV0L4YTR5VFC
  • Story Text: Sami Khedira said that Germany can beat Argentina in their World Cup quarter-final in Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday (July 3), despite the fact that Argentina beat them 1-0 in a friendly match last March and that they have Lionel Messi who he rates as currently the world's best player.
    "In March, we played against Argentina, too. And Messi was there, too. I think he is the world's best player right now," said Khedira, speaking at Germany's training base in Erasmia, near Pretoria, South Africa on Monday (June 28).
    "You can't switch him off over 90 minutes. But we as a collective (team), same as we played yesterday, when everybody helps the others, when somebody is on the right place at the right time, then we can stop a player like Lionel Messi. But they have other, extremely strong players, too. I have seen that yesterday. But we don't have to hide from them, we know our qualities. And so I am really confident, that we have a chance against Argentina."
    His team mate Miroslav Klose, who scored the opening goal in Germany's 4-1 second round win over England on Sunday (June 27), said his team's self-confidence had been a decisive factor in that match.
    "We have some kind of quality," said Klose. "And you can see it in the training sessions every day. I said it a lot of times: it is really important to believe in yourself, to present the team as a real team on the pitch. I think, we put England under pressure yesterday. We were present, we as a team have shown our presence. The players of England not."
    Germany beat Argentina at the same stage of the competition in 2006, going through after winning a penalty shoot-out but then losing to Italy in the semi-finals. Germany's last World Cup triumph was as West Germany in 1990 when they beat Argentina 1-0, but Khedira does not yet want to think about lifting the trophy just yet.
    "I think if you want to win the World Cup, then you have to try to beat each and every opponent. Yesterday we gave a proof of our top preparation. Same with the match against Argentina. We concentrate ourselves exclusively on Argentina. We are not thinking about what can happen, what or who can come after this match, that makes no sense," said Khedira.
    One of the key moments of Germany's match against England was a "goal" by Frank Lampard which was not given by the match officials despite television replays showing the ball had clearly crossed the line.
    FIFA earlier on Monday had not commented about the possible use of video technology, but Klose was clearly in favour of using these means.
    "TV evidence is for sure a right thing. What I meant was the chip in the ball, in that case the referee gets a signal in his earpiece, that tells him the ball was inside. If we have this technology, like it is already being used in ice hockey and football, so why should it be different in soccer?" he said.
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