Match Preview for Semi-final Germany v Spain

Venue: Durban
Date: Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Kick-off: 1930 BST

TEAM NEWS

Despite being injured in their last match against Argentina, German midfielder Sami Khedira is expected to play in this match. However, defender Arne Friedrich had to sit out Monday’s training session due to a problem with his foot. Germany will also be missing Thomas Mueller due to suspension, whilst their back-up striker Cacau is still having problems with an abdominal muscle injury.
Vicente del Bosque has a difficult decision to make regarding his underperforming striker Fernando Torres, he was substituted in less than an hour during the last game against Paraguay. He was replaced with Cesc Fabregas (the Arsenal midfielder), who hurt his shoulder after a heavy fall, but has been declared fit by Spain’s medical team. Their defender Carles Puyol has all been told he is fit to play after he was having problems with blurred vision.

MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head

When Spain won Euro 2008 it was only their second win in eight competitive games against the Germans, the win before that was in the 1984 European Championship when they won 1 – 0 in the group stage.
Germany have won three previous World Cup games against Spanish National Teams, in 1966 West Germany beat Spain 2 – 1 and they won by the same score in 1982 at Bernabeu during a second round match. In a group game at USA 1994 Jurgen Klinsmann scored an equaliser which gave the Germans a 1 – 1 draw.
The two teams have played each other a total of twenty times, Germany have won eight of the games, Spain has won six games and there have been six draws.

Germany

So far Miroslav Klose has scored 14 goals in 18 World Cup games, if he manages another it will equal the record which is currently held by Brazilian player Ronaldo. This is Germany’s 11th World Cup semi final, they have progressed this far in six out of the last eight World Cups. Italy did beat the Germans in 1970 and 2006; however, it has been 52 years since a team other than the Azzurri have beaten them at the semi final stage.

Spain

This is the first time that Spain have made it through to a World Cup semi final. They managed to reach the final four in 1950 when the tournament was structured differently, but then they finished bottom out of a group with Uruguay, Brazil and Sweden taking first to third place respectively. If Spain’s David Villa scores then he will equal Raul’s record of 44 goals for Spain. So far Villa’s five goals have met the Spanish record for the most goals scored at a single World Cup which was set by Emilio Butragueno in 1986.