Germany vs Argentina World Cup 2014: Germans lap up TV lesson on stopping Argentina

The Germany camp were keen observers of Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final between Argentina and the Netherlands and watched with interest as the Dutch defenders were able to subdue Lionel Messi for most of the game.

Hansi Flick, Joachim Löw’s assistant coach, said yesterday that while the German players realised they go into Sunday’s final as favourites, they know that the tag is meaningless in a World Cup final.

“All the players and coaching staff had a great time together watching the match last night, and obviously we saw the way Netherlands were able to keep Messi in check,” said Flick, who declined to reveal how Germany might go about keeping the four-times world player of the year quiet at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana.

“We’ve played a lot of matches against Argentina,” he said. “And we’ve also got a plan. But we’re not going to reveal that here to you.”

Right back Benedikt Höwedes, who helped Germany stop Cristiano Ronaldo in their 4-0 win over Portugal in their opening game, said it was important to swarm Messi and not get caught one-on-one.

“Messi is a fantastic player, one of the best in the world, but so was Ronaldo,” said Höwedes. “We’ve got to work as a collective against him because we’re not going to be able to beat him one-on-one.

“When we play together tightly even a great player like Messi will have a hard time. If we can defend decently as a team we’ll contain him.”

Germany have made it to two of the last four World Cup finals but have not won the title since West Germany beat Argentina in 1990.

“We know that we’re considered the favourites,” said Höwedes. “The team is clever enough to avoid being led astray by that tag. We’re not going to let any external factors distract us.”

Even though Germany knocked out the hosts in their 7-1 semi-final victory on Tuesday, Flick said the team hoped home fans would cheer for them in Sunday’s final against Brazil’s arch-rivals Argentina.

“All of us are hoping for support from the Brazilians,” he said. “I thought it was a wonderful gesture the way Brazilians celebrated for us on the journey home to Santo Andre. All along the way there were Brazilians cheering us. It was really fantastic.”

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While Germany’s celebrations after their massive win over Brazil in Belo Horizonte appeared muted, Flick dismissed suggestions the team would lack emotion on Sunday.

“It’s not that we want to go into the match without any emotion at all,” Flick added. “We know full well what it means to play in a World Cup final. But it’s important to maintain the discipline and react smart tactically.

Defender Mats Hummels was able to train with his team-mates yesterday after undergoing treatment for a knee injury. He is suffering from tendinitis and asked to be taken off at half-time during Germany’s semi-final.

He hurt his knee in Germany’s win over Portugal but scored the winner in the 1-0 quarter-final victory over France. However, he said he felt pain in his knee during the warm-up on Tuesday. “I made the decision that it’s perhaps better to take myself out so that I wouldn’t break anything,” he said. “We’ll have to see exactly what it is. It’s not something tiny but fortunately I don’t think it’s anything that would endanger Sunday.”

Germany will enjoy an extra day of rest over Argentina before Sunday’s World Cup final, and Flick said: “The extra day is obviously very important. When you talk to the players they all say they really appreciate having that extra day off now.”