The German national team is waiting for a tough opponent in the semifinals of the 2010 World Cup, namely Spain. Phillip Lahm and colleagues previously managed to beat Argentina in the last eight with a score of 4-0.
Der Panzer started his career at the 2010 World Cup by recording two wins and one defeat during the Group D phase. The victory in the last match against Ghana, became an important victory for Germany because it immediately led them to the group winners position, and directly faced England in the round of 16. .
Meeting England, Germany beat Fabio Capello's squad mercilessly with a landslide score of 4-1. Then in the quarter-finals, Germany faced South American champions, Argentina and successfully won.
However, in the semifinals, Germany showed a disappointing game. Der Panzer was not able to face the combination game played by Spain. Germany's dream of reaching the final was shattered by a header from La Furia Roja defender at the time, Carlos Puyol. Germany lost 0-1.
The absence of Thomas Muller
Unfortunately, in such an important match, German star Thomas Muller had to miss out due to card accumulation. In fact, the Bayern Munich player has always been coach Joachim Loew's choice in the first team since Der Panzer underwent a match in the group stage to the quarter-finals.
Muller has scored four goals, one of which he scored as Germany thrashed favorites Argentina 4-0 in the quarter-finals. But in that match also Muller got a yellow card and missed the semifinals because he had previously received a yellow card in beating Ghana 1-0 in the group stage.
Learn from Defeat
Eliminated by Spain in the semifinals of the 2010 World Cup, the captain Philipp Lahm admitted that he had learned a lesson from Vicente del Bosque's team. Germany was defeated after a goal from Carles Puyol locked La Furia Roja's steps to advance to the final round.
Lahm was apparently inspired by the journey of the Matador squad at the South African World Cup. Imagine, starting the tournament with a defeat to Switzerland, Spain managed to improve its performance until finally treading the final. Bayern Munich star hopes, Der Panzer can emulate this attitude.
"Spain proved that there is always room for improvement (performance). Three or four weeks ago, they had the same players and then gained confidence. We can also do the same in the future," explained the 26-year-old as quoted from Sky Sports page.
Place Three
After serving a period of suspension due to card accumulation, Germany was again strengthened by its star Thomas Muller. Der Panzer was able to successfully seize the third place, after beating Uruguay with a thin score 3-2.
In that match it was clear that Germany was the favorite to face the Albiceleste, but Diego Forlan and colleagues unexpectedly gave fierce resistance to Der Panzer. Muller brought Germany's advantage first in the 19th minute.
But after 10 minutes, Edinson Cavani managed to equalize 1-1. Uruguay had led 2-1 through Diego Forlan's goal, before Germany scored two winning goals through Marcell Jansen and action from Sami Khedira.
Thanks to that total, Germany has won third place at the World Cup four times, 1934, 1970, 2006 and 2010.