Germany coach Joachim Loew has urged his players to show modesty and humility following their 7-1 World Cup semifinal defeat of Brazil on Tuesday.
Belo Horizonte (Brazil): Germany coach Joachim Loew has urged his players to show modesty and humility following their 7-1 World Cup semifinal defeat of Brazil on Tuesday.
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Joaewchim Loew
The result earned Germany a berth in Sunday's final against the winners of the other semifinal between Argentina and the Netherlands, reports Xinhua. Loew said he felt for Brazil's players and coaching staff, having also experienced World Cup semifinal heartache as an assistant coach of hosts Germany in 2006. "After losing the (World Cup) semifinal to Italy in 2006, we know how Brazil, the players, Mr. Scolari and the fans feel, so we have to be modest and humble and take the next step," Loew said.
"The emotions are great. We won, we've made it to the final. We coped with the passion of the Brazilians and we knew that if we played to our capabilities we thought we would win, but we couldn't have expected this result. We took our chances well and they strained under the pressure caused by conceding." Germany will be aiming to win the World Cup for a fourth time at Rio's Maracana stadium. Tuesday's result ended a run of three successive World Cups in which Germany were eliminated at the semifinal stage.
Loew praised the performance of Miroslav Klose, whose first-half strike made him the World Cup's highest scorer with 16 goals. "For Miroslav Klose to break the record of scoring the most goals at the World Cup, it means a lot to us," Loew said."It's great for him and for the team. If you've scored the most goals in the history of the World Cup, you've had to earn it. He's still playing at the highest level and scoring goals."
Germany midfielder Toni Kroos, who scored two goals in the space of three first-half minutes, said the team had capitalised on Brazil's lack of authority. "It's the best team performance for Germany I've been involved in," the Bayern Munich midfielder said. "We started believing from the first minute as we thought that Brazil were a little bit hesitant in their decision-making and we took advantage of that. "After we scored the first, the goals kept coming. Had someone had said we'd have won 7-1 I wouldn't have believed them, but I thought we were outstanding, that's all I can say. We're here to become world champions, we're happy and relieved to go through, but there's still one game to go. No-one has won the World Cup in a semi-final."
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