Originally posted by snowbird82:
Sweden outplayed England and will be the first decent team Germany gona meet at the World Cup. They finally discovered their scoring boots and i expect the match to be a thriller. A draw at full time and hopefully Sweden getting that extra time winner..
Well, hope springs eternal I suppose!

No doubt, Sweden played the match of their tournament against England, but it doesn't take away the fact their 'result' was achieved in part as a result of England's lack of focus(esp the second goal) given the fact England were never trailing and they knew full well a draw would assure them of being group winners. That said, I don't think they impressed too many people - punters and fans alike - in their games against T&T and Paraguay.
That said, this really isn't all about Sweden - the Germans have a knack of coming good at World Cups, however poor their preparations leading up to it might be. They haven't lost before the quarter-finals - when Bulgaria beat them in '94 and Croatia in '98 - since '82 and the "worst German team ever" at a WC finals in '02 made the final after coming into the tournament as the bud of all jokes(not least, being demolished 5-1 at home by England in the qualifiers). Throw in the fact that West Germany were champions on both occasions they previously hosted the tournament(and I'm not saying for a moment they'll win this time) and it's hard to see how the current lot can't measure up to Sweden who have really struggled to impress.
As Klinsmann said yesterday, "Die Mannschaft muss mindestens das Viertelfinale machen" - I see no reason why his prophecy should fall short at this hurdle...
