Revenge for 2008

Lukas Podolski has planned the World Cup semifinals against Spain as a perfect opportunity for Germany. Fernando Torres brought Spain a win in the final two years ago and Podolski would love nothing more than the opportunity to turn the tables on Roja. Cologne said he leave it up to us in the media to decide who the favourites are among Spain and Germany. Podolski added, whenever they get to final they want to win it and said it still hurts. But now they have a great opportunity to get to another final with a win against Spain and they will do everything to get there.

Germany goes into the match with their confidence high after scoring 4 goals in both their knockout stage victories, over England and Argentina. Podolski shrugged off a suggestion by Argentina coach Diego that his team had done more to try and win their game with the Germans counter-attack. He said if they continue to play as they did against England and Argentina, he thinks they can stand a good chance against Spain.

German coach knows to beat England

Koepke is now the national keeper coach and a possible trump card if the fate continues at the Free State stadium. Koepke said everyone would prefer to avoid penalties but if it comes to that they will be prepared. He said, but we cannot simulate penalty taking. In training all players will hit and score every penalty. Koepke's presence at Saturday's conference was apt for a fixture with a fair share of penalty worries.

Koepke, who won 59 caps for his country said the Germans have done a spot of brushing up too. They do train penalties now and again before international matches. When asked for what those potentially World Cup saving information is, he said the former Nuremberg and Olympique Marseille player was not about to give anything away. He said he will talk to him and they will see what comes out of that. But they need to keep some surprises for the match.

Serbia stunned Germany

Serbia stunned Germany with a win after Miroslav Klose was sent out and Lukas missed a penalty in World Cup Group D. Germany should have equalized when Nemanja handled in but goalkeeper Vladimir dived to his left to save Lukas’s kick. The result takes the young German team too high on confidence after defeating Australia with 4-0 in their opener and gives Serbia a chance to reach the second round after they lost to Ghana.

Germany still leads Group D with 3 points from two games, ahead of Ghana and Serbia, and Australia on none. Ghana and Australia meet on Saturday in their second game. Until Klose's dismissal Germany had been in control of the match that left Serbia on the back foot. The 3 time World Cup winner’s start creates a chance when Sami Khedira found space after a neat cross by Thomas Mueller. They kept up the pressure and came close again, when Mueller's dangerous cross was partially cleared by Vidic and made wide by Podolski.