Germany are confident of beating Argentina, the toughest rivals the hosts meet in the 2006 World Cup, in their quarterfinal clash on Friday evening, to break the jinx of never winning over any world-class soccer giants in recent years.

The confidence has been shown by Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann, skipper Michael Ballack and some other players.

Klinsmann said the hosts should have no fear after racking up four wins going into Friday's quarter-final against the South Americans.

"Argentina are a great team but we can compete with them and I am sure we can beat them," said Klinsmann.

Germany had topped Group A with three wins, 4-2 over Costa Rica, 1-0 over Poland, 3-0 over Ecuador, and eased past Sweden 2-0 to be the first team booking a berth in the quarterfinals.

Argentina finished winners of Group C, widely recognized as Group of Death, with two wins and a tie, 2-1 over Cote d'Ivoire, 6-0 over Serbia and Montenegro, and 0-0 with the Netherlands. Then they edged Mexico 2-1 with the deciding goal in extra time to reach the quarterfinals.

Germany have played Argentina on 16 previous occasions. The Germans have won five times and Argentina seven. Four matches have been drawn.

The two nations have met on four previous occasions in World Cups including the finals of 1986 and 1990. Germany have the upper hand with two wins to one. The 1966 fixture was drawn. In the 1986 World Cup final, a Diego Maradona-inspired Argentina won 3-2. But in the 1990 final, Klinsmann was in the German team which triumphed 1-0 in Rome.

Their most recent fixture was in last year's Confederations Cup and ended in a 2-2 draw. Neither of Germany's goalscorers, Kuranyi and Asamoah, will start this match. Argentina's two goals were netted by Juan Riquelme and Cambiasso.

Now, all German fans are confident that their skipper Ballack and striker Miroslav Klose will shake off injuries in time for Friday's quarter-final.

Both Ballack and Klose returned to training on Wednesday after sitting out Tuesday's team session, Ballack with a swollen ankle and Klose with tendonitis.

Klose is topping the World Cup goalscoring charts with four while his partner Lukas Podolski is on three. Klose is one goal away from becoming the 12th player in World Cup history to net 10 goals. Gerd Muller (14), Klinsmann (11) and Helmut Rahn (10) are the other Germans on the list.

Ballack said: "We do not fear anyone. Argentina are a top-class team and deserve our respect but we are confident of beating them to reach the semi-final."

However, Argentina striker Carlos Tevez said, "Germany are going to have to show more than they have done so far to beat us."

Jose Pekerman's side are one of the favourites to lift the trophy following their impressive performances leading up to the last eight.

Tevez said,"They know that if they let us play, we can cause them problems."

"Even the German crowd will not affect their style of play," he noted.

Argentina, when at their best, play as entertaining a game of football as anyone in the world. Riquelme is definitely the key playmaker. His superb ball control and positional awareness make him devilishly hard to mark. Villarreal's run to the semi-finals of the Champions league was largely down to the inspirational Riquelme.

Besides Riquelme, every player of the star-studded Argentine side is the key member of his club. If Riquelme, Juan Pablo Sorin, Crespo and Roberto Ayala are playing as one, Argentina will be nearly impossible to beat.

"We cannot make the mistake of concentrating on one player as Argentina have a lot of players that can decide the game," said Germany's defensive midfielder Torsten Frings.

"I cannot imagine running around after Riquelme for 90 minutes, " he added.

Source: Xinhua