by Nicholas Nikolov

Created on: July 04, 2010   Last Updated: July 06, 2010

Another classic rivalry took place today with two other of soccer’s powerhouses – Germany and Argentina – a rematch of their 2006 quarter-final encounter. As they did so then, the Germans eliminated the South American giants for the second time in the quarter-final stages. In a disciplined overwhelming fashion, head coach Joachim Loew’s rampant German squad showed no mercy toward his counterpart head coach Diego Maradona’s La Albiceleste. Ousting the star-studded Argentina was one of the pre-selected tournament favourites to win the World Cup in South Africa, by an outstanding 4-0 shutout victory at Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium.

It did not take long for the Germans to get their goal. Inside the opening three minutes of the first-half, Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger’s sublime curling free kick out from the left – found the wide-open drifting 20-year-old midfielder Thomas Mueller – slicked past unmarked in the six-yard box to thump his header past goalkeeper Sergio Romero.

Precisely 10 minutes before the first-half was over, it appeared that Argentina levelled things up from a Lionel Messi squandered free kick that rebounded outward off the five-man German wall – then sent back into the area – where a handful of Argentine players pounced on the ball. However, the video replay shown four Argentine players all in an offside position.

Up until this point the German near impenetrable defence superbly marshalled players like striker Carlos Tevez and Messi hardly allowing them to impose themselves on the match – stifling the splendid creativity of the Argentineans. However, Argentina at times created half-opportunities with long-range strikes.   

Restarting the match, it seemed as if Argentina were going to tie things up in the early goings of the second half. But all of their consistent pressure was not that of a major threat for the Germans and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Striker Lukas Podolski, 25, spearheads the German counterattack on the left-hand side – rather than electing to shoot – as he done so on his previous attempt that almost snatched the all-important second goal. The Cologne superstar unselfishly squares the ball across to his teammate and countryman Polish-born 32-year-old Miroslav Klose redeemed himself for missing his earlier attempt in the first-half – netting in the easiest of tap-ins in the 68th minute.

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