The World Cup’s two most impressive strikers — David Villa and Miroslav Klose — will go head-to-head when European champions Spain meets three-time winners Germany in the semifinals on Wednesday.
Villa leads the scoring chart with five goals in five games for Spain, while Klose has hit the target four times for Germany and needs only one more goal to pull even with former Brazil forward Ronaldo as the top World Cup scorer of all time with 15 goals.
“It’s difficult to compare them but both have shown great finishing qualities,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said.
Villa’s strike partner Fernando Torres has been out of touch and may be left out of Spain’s team, while Thomas Mueller is suspended for Germany, meaning the scoring onus will fall even heavily upon Villa and Klose.
Villa missed the 2008 European Championship final against Germany due to injury but still led that tournament with four goals. The 28-year-old forward is one goal away from matching Raul Gonzalez’s Spain record of 44 and is looking to cement his place as his country’s greatest striker.
“He’s left-footed, right-footed, technically gifted. He’s almost as complete a player as Lionel Messi,” Klose said, comparing Villa to the Argentina standout. “He’s a player that you have to combat against with a whole team, not just one defender.”
Whereas Villa has scored all but one of Spain’s six goals at this tournament, Klose’s four strikes represent less than a third of Germany’s impressive 13-goal output.
Germany beat Australia 4-0 in their opening match, and have routed England 4-1 and Argentina 4-0 in their past two matches.
“They are probably the most complete team in the World Cup. A team that have changed since the 2008 final, with young and fresh faces,” backup Spain goalkeeper Pepe Reina said. “They are the most dangerous rivals at the moment.”
Besides the intriguing individual matchups, the match at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban should feature a sharp contrast in styles — Spain’s precision passing and high-possession game versus Germany’s full-pitch attacking style and crosses into the box.
“We try for combinations and they play down the field more,” Reina said. “They’ve always scored except for against Serbia, and we have to make sure not to let them get ahead.”
Spain beat Germany 1-0 in the Euro 2008 final with a first-half strike from Torres, and the Spanish have again shown their ability at winning tight games here — taking their past three matches by one goal each.
“We have different players now, while Spain are almost the same,” Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger said, referring to new standouts like Mueller.
— AP