Casillas Ready For Germany

6 Jul 2010

Spain captain Iker Casillas has admitted that his side's World Cup semi final match with Germany is the biggest game in the nation’s history.

Spain came into the tournament as favourites after winning the European Championships two years ago and qualifying for the World Cup with consummate ease.

They have, so far, failed to live up to their billing, contriving to lose their first match against Switzerland and not impressing in any of their subsequent matches up to now, including their narrow victory over Paraguay in the quarter finals.

Germany, on the other hand, have been in magnificent form so far, hitting four goals on three occasions, including games against giants Argentina and Germany, and introducing exiting new players who have lit up the tournament such as Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil.
Casillas is therefore aware that the match against the three times World Cup winners will be a tough one as they face a better Germany side than they took on two years ago in the final of the Euros.
The Real Madrid keeper has even gone as far as saying that this match is more important than the one two years ago as it is in the World Cup, thought of as the biggest football spectacle around.
"People are not telling us how good we were at Euro 2008.
"People are saying we have to win the World Cup. The people want the World Cup.

"We know that the Germany match is the most important in our history, even more than the Euro 2008 final in Austria.

"We did not come here to finish fourth. The European championships is in the past and was a complete success, it was fantastic.
"Everyone was flying the (Spanish) flag from the rooftops but now, from what we are seeing, this is the most important match for Spain for a very long time."

Spain are currently 17/10 with bwin to win the match against Germany, with Ladbrokes offering 13/8 and Coral 6/4.