Analyst's review and opinion
"Everyone is over-excited. Maradona has been successful in rallying everyone around him - the fans, the media and the team are a completely different bunch than they were before the (qualifying) game against Peru. Maradona’s tricks are working - so far
"But I don’t think that the team has improved. They have played pretty much at the same level since they arrived in South Africa. Even though they have great players and they did not need to fight to the limit, so far they have had an easy road. The game against Germany is the one that will put everything in perspective. Argentina were very, very lucky with group draw and, while Mexico are a difficult team, the referees helped them out a big deal.
"The weakness is Maradona himself - he called up a group of defenders that are too old, too slow and ignored younger talent that would have made the team better. I don’t think that we can blame the defenders themselves.
"Maradona is a motivator, but I don’t think he is a good planner. He is not a great tactician either. He gives speeches, kisses the players and he plays the 'mental' part because he does not know much about the tactical side.
"I believe that Germany are going to crush Argentina. They are not the best Germany I have seen, but probably the strongest one from the physical standpoint. They dominated Ghana, which really amazed me. Argentina are not a very strong team physically, and they are tired after a very long year. They are talented but I think that they have no resources, no players defensively to stop Germany.
"I hope we see a good game. At least I am sure that we are going to see a lot of goals."
"The mood in Germany is very good. The organisers of the official German FIFA-Fan-Fest expect more than 400,000 people to watch Saturday's match in the Berlin Tiergarten in front of the Brandenburg Gate. If you ask the people on the street everybody is very optimistic regarding the match, but even if our young team lose against Argentina the fans won't be angry with the players. The way they played against Australia, partly against Serbia and of course against England convinced the people of the future of the team.
"The good performance is more a development of the team than of the individuals. Let's take the defence as an example: Per Mertesacker has not been in good form the past few weeks. He made many mistakes in the first four games - more than usual - and the goal against Serbia was his biggest error. But playing between Philip Lahm and a surprisingly in-form Arne Friedrich (very unexpected by the way, as he was relegated with Hertha Berlin this season) means it has not mattered. Germany are strong as a team, as a unit, which is greater than the sum of its parts.
"The biggest weakness is their 'greenness'. Six starters against England were 25 or younger, with only two older than 30. Especially at left-back with Jerome Boateng or Holder Badstuber, the team is vulnerable - too bad that they are the players Lionel Messi will attack on his side.
"Argentina don’t worry about us at all. If you ask Maradona, he'd reply "Germany, who?". For them the match against Germany is just another step on their way to the title. They totally trust in their own strength. What they might fear is a penalty shoot-out like 2006 - but no-one can understand that better than the English..."
