Soccer: Germans desperate to avoid unwanted hat-trick

PUSAN - After a series of stunning cup shocks, three-time champions Germany will hope for a return to normality when they face the United States in the quarter-finals tonight.

Though many of their major rivals have gone tumbling out in the early rounds, Germany have eased relatively smoothly into the last eight for the 14th time in the 15 finals tournaments they have played in.

However, after going out at the quarter-final stage in the past two tournaments in surprise defeats to Bulgaria (1994) and Croatia (1998), they will be desperate to avoid an unwelcome hat-trick.

The United States have already surpassed expectations.

Now - with absolutely nothing to lose - they have the opportunity to reach undreamed of heights by claiming the scalp of the most consistent country in World Cup history.

Germany, however, go into the game in better shape than they have been for several years, with confidence oozing all over the squad.

After blitzing Saudi Arabia 8-0 in their first game, they drew 1-1 with Ireland, produced a battling display to beat Cameroon 2-0 with 10 men and then ground out a 1-0 win over Paraguay in the second round.

The confidence and the performances have been in marked contrast to two years ago when they crashed out of the European Championship in the first round and last September when they lost 1-5 at home to England in a qualifying match.

"I've never seen such a good atmosphere in my entire career," striker Oliver Neuville said.

Much of the credit for the change goes to coach Rudi Voeller, who is universally popular with the players.

Voeller accepts that his side will have to step up a level from their performance against Paraguay.

However Germany should be helped by the return of defender Carsten Ramelow and midfielders Dietmar Hamann and Christian Ziege from suspension.

US coach Bruce Arena is banking on the lack of expectation to help his team pull off a shock to eclipse their already impressive victories over Portugal and Mexico.

The Americans' only previous venture into the latter stages came in 1930 when they reached the semifinals by playing just two games, and, despite Arena's cool approach, he and his team have real confidence that they can match that achievement.

"We enter the game with the belief that we can win," he said.

"We know that on any given day we can beat anyone in the world."

To achieve that Arena is likely to employ the counter-attacking tactics that worked so well in the 2-0 second round win over Mexico.

He is wary of Germany's aerial threat and may stick with the three centre backs he deployed successfully against Mexico.

Probable teams:-

Germany: Oliver Kahn; Christoph Metzelder, Carsten Ramelow, Thomas Linke; Torsten Frings, Bernd Schneider, Dietmar Hamann, Michael Ballack, Christian Ziege; Miroslav Klose, Oliver Neuville.

United States: Brad Friedel; Eddie Pope, Pablo Mastroeni, Gregg Berhalter; Tony Sanneh, Landon Donovan, Claudio Reyna, John O'Brien, Frank Hejduk; Clint Mathis, Brian McBride.

- REUTERS

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