Germany must beware of Argentina’s attempts to provoke them during Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final, Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger said yesterday.
Schweinsteiger said Argentine players would be looking to throw the Germans off their game and urged his teammates not to be drawn into any provocation.
“It starts before the match,” Schweinsteiger, a member of the squad that beat Argentina on penalties four years ago to move into the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup, told reporters.
PHOTO: AFP
“If you see how they gesticulate, how they try to influence the referee. That is not part of the game. That is a lack of respect. They just are like that,” Schweinsteiger said.
Several players and coaches from both teams clashed immediately after Germany’s victory on penalties in 2006 in an incident that briefly overshadowed the hosts’ joy of advancing to the last four.
“We should not be provoked by them,” Schweinsteiger said.
“I hope the referee will pick up the feeling of who is provoking whom. We saw that again in their match against Mexico at half-time,” Schweinsteiger said.
There was a heated exchange between the Argentina and Mexico benches at half-time of their last 16 match.
“This behavior shows their character and mentality,” he said.
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