German players not afraid of Argentina

Munich: German players were dancing and singing in the dressing room after beating Sweden and even the prospect of a tough World Cup quarter-final against old rivals Argentina would not dampen their mood.

Argentina will provide a different quality of opposition in Berlin on Friday after the South Americans came through a tense second round match against Mexico 2-1 in extra-time.

But Juergen Klinsmann's side have played better and better as the tournament has gone on and after four wins out of four the hosts have self-belief coursing through their veins.

'It's a case of four down, three to go,'' Lukas Podolski told reporters after netting both goals. ''You could say there was pressure on us at the start of the tournament but not now.

''We wanted to put Sweden under pressure from the start and it worked out. It was a super feeling.''

West Germany and Argentina met in the World Cup final in both 1986 and 1990, the Argentines winning the former and the Germans the latter.

They have played each other twice in the last 18 months and drawn 2-2 each time, in a friendly in Duesseldorf in February 2005 and again in the group phase of the Confederations Cup later the same year.

German hopes of seeing them off at the third attempt and reaching a semi-final in Dortmund could rest on how Argentina cope with Germany's now customary whirlwind start.

For the first half-hour against Sweden the hosts looked unstoppable.

They passed the ball with great pace and precision, players switched positions with dizzying speed and Klose bamboozled the defence with the quickness of his feet and speed of thought.

''We don't have to be afraid of anyone,'' Germany captain Michael Ballack, who had another outstanding game in midfield, told reporters. ''I don't think anyone can play better than we did for the first 30 minutes.''

Germany did not need to play well for the whole match to beat Sweden but to see off a hugely skilful Argentina side they will not be able to afford a lapse in concentration.

''We're up to the task,'' Klinsmann assured the German public in a TV interview on Saturday night.

The players danced and sang in the dressing room and I have to say we're proud of them. ''Our goal is to keep going until the final.''