Germany insist they do not have revenge on their mind, and that captain Philipp Lahm is the right man in midfield, as they gear up for a history-laden last 16 clash with Algeria at the World Cup on Monday.
Algeria famously beat then West Germany 2-1 in the 1982 group stage, but even more famous is what happened a few days later when Germany and Austria stopped playing after an early German goal, the 1-0 good enough to see both through at the expense of the North Africans.
Germany coach Joachim Loew insists his players are not thinking of revenge for the lost match, even more as most of them weren’t even born by the time of the embarrassing defeat.
The Algerians, who would have even more reason to, are also not engaging in a war of words even though coach Vahid Halilhodzic admitted that “you can never forget 1982.” The Algeria camp is rather taking delight in reaching their first World Cup knock-out game, partly helped by the first four-goal effort of an African team at a World Cup, an impressive 4-2 over South Korea.
But Halilhodzic is only too aware of the pecking order in world football lying ahead of the only Arab world representative left in the tournament.
“We are the small, small Algeria and now play against the big, big Germany,” he said as the team around Sporting Lisbon’s Islam Slimani prepared for the daunting task.
“This fourth game will be more than complicated. The German team runs non-stop,” Halilhodzic said.
The German with some of the biggest mileage on the pitch in the three games so far is the captain Lahm, and Loew made it very clear that he no intention whatsoever to move the Bayern Munich ace out of his midfield role again.
“The decision remains absolutely the right one,” Loew said. “He is a player who knows these situations and how to deal with them. You could see his reaction.” After all, Lahm improved in the 1-0 over the US in a midfield formation with Munich team-mates Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos from an uncharacteristic below-par game in the 2-2 with Ghana.
He was solid in the opening 4-0 win against Portugal.
Loew has Lukas Podolski, who played in the first half against the US, sidelined with injury, but is upbeat that Jerome Boateng will have overcome his knee problems that forced him to train individually Saturday.
It is not clear whether Sami Khedira, who was rested against the US, will take over from Schweinsteiger again.
Loew also warned that Algeria, who apart from the win against the Koreans narrowly lost 2-1 against Belgium and drew 1-1 with Russia, will be no pushover.
“Anyone who thinks you have an easy opponent in the last 16 is making a major mistake,” Loew said.
But Loew is convinced that his team will improve because the tournament is now starting in earnest, and Germany determined to make it all the way to the July 13 final.
“A World Cup is a marathon, not a 100m dash. A team must be able to improve,” Loew said.
