Soccer News of Saturday, 12 July 2014

Source: goal.com

Germany have the big match pedigree to win World Cup

Bastian Schweinsteiger feels the big match experience of the Germany players will help them cope with the pressure of Sunday's World Cup final against Argentina.

Germany are bidding to win their first World Cup since 1990 and their team contains many players who were involved four years ago when Low’s side were knocked out by Spain in the semi-final.

Schweinsteiger believes that the Germans’ familiarity with big occasions, for club and country, means the team is ready to beat Argentina and claim the country’s fourth World Cup triumph at the Maracana.

"We have lots of players here now who were there in 2010 but we are more experienced, not just in the national team," Schweinsteiger said.

"Since 2005 we have always reached the semi-finals of international competitions, but also we have been playing at a high level with our clubs, such as the Champions League final last year [between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund].

"We lost against Spain in 2008 but we have played in a lot of semi-finals and finals. The team is very solid now and I just have good feelings about tomorrow.

"We are looking forward to it. There is huge anticipated joy. We have no pressure. There are lots of players in the 23 who have played big finals. We are just thinking about one thing – the job we have to do tomorrow."

The Bayern Munich player will line up in central midfield against Alejandro Sabella’s men where he will come up against Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano.

While Lionel Messi is Argentina’s captain, Schweinsteiger believes Mascherano is the leader in the Albiceleste team and says the European side must keep their cool to win the final.

"Argentina are an excellent team and deserve to be in the final," he added.

"They have world class players like Messi, Aguero and Di Maria. Mascherano is like the leader of a pack of wolves. You can see the attitude he has for his country.

"We have to keep our cool, stay calm and patient. I’m quite sure that if we play to our capacity, we can beat such a top class team. We know what we are capable of."