Klose: Spain are not invincible
Reuters - Sunday 04 July 2010, 12:50
ERASMIA - Germany's World
Cup semi-final opponents Spain are not invincible and the match
will be very different to the Euro 2008 final, Germany striker
Miroslav Klose said on Sunday.
Germany head into Wednesday's clash in Durban on a high
after Klose scored twice in a 4-0 drubbing of Argentina on
Saturday.
The striker said that between a post-flight midnight snack
and a mid-day training session on Sunday, he had watched a
replay of Spain's 1-0 quarter-final win over Paraguay.
"Spain are certainly a better team than our previous
opponents England and Argentina, they are a fantastic team," the
forward said.
"I caught a rerun of their game with Paraguay, it was a
great game but it showed that Spain are not invincible, not
unbeatable. We have to filter out their weaknesses and then
exploit them," he told a news conference.
A Fernando Torres goal gave Spain a 1-0 win over Germany in
the European Championship final in Vienna two years ago but
Klose expects a different kind of match.
"You can't compare the games, just as there was no way you
could compare Saturday's game with Argentine with the game
against them in 2006," he said. "These are different squads now,
with different players.
"Spain still reigns supreme in Europe but in terms of
quality I think we have improved considerably.
"We have introduced a fresh attitude and fresh blood. A few
years ago people said that it was a shame that no attackers or
creative midfielders were coming through (in Germany) but time
has proved them wrong," he said.
One difference will be the presence of David Villa in the
Spain attack. He is the tournament's top scorer with five goals,
one more than Klose.
"He is almost as complete a player as Lionel Messi and like
with Messi you have to combat him as a team not just with one
player," Klose said.
Klose, who won his 100th cap on Saturday, brought his
personal World Cup tally to 14 goals in three tournaments, level
with Germany's Gerd Muller and one short of Brazilian Ronaldo's
record total of 15 goals.
"I hope that he isn't too worried," joked Klose, "I never
dreamed that I would get close to his record."
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