A look at Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal
Semifinal: GERMANY VS. SPAIN
Where: Durban. Time: 11:30 a.m. PDT.
TV: ESPN, ESPN Deportes, Univision. Radio: Sirius/XM, KLYY-FM 97.5, KDLD-FM/KDLE-FM 103.1, KSPN-AM 710.
The buzz: These teams met two years ago in the final of the European championships in a game Spain dominated despite winning just 1-0. But neither side expects there to be any carryover to this match. The young German side, especially, is completely different from the one the country fielded in 2008. And the two teams are riding different kinds of momentum coming into this match. Germany dismantled England and Argentina by a combined 8-1 in their two elimination games, while Spain barely slipped by Portugal and Paraguay, winning each match 1-0. Stopping David Villa is the key to stopping Spain, since Villa has scored five of La Furia Roja’s six goals in the World Cup. Expect Germany to mark Villa, the tournament’s leading scorer, closely — especially given the complete absence of any offense from Villa’s strike partner Fernando Torres, who apparently is not 100% after sustaining a knee injury. The Spanish offense took off against Paraguay when Torres went out in favor of Cesc Fabregas late in the second half. Fabregas looked likely to start but is reportedly slowed by an injury and that may give Torres a reprieve. Germany will be missing wunderkind Thomas Muller, who picked up his second yellow card in the quarterfinal win over Argentina. That will leave a heavier load on Miroslav Klose, whose two goals against Argentina gave him four for the tournament. There is also some question about the fitness of left-back Jerome Boateng, who left the pitch late in the Argentina match. “I’ve never doubted this team’s potential or development,” Germany Coach Joachim Low said of his squad with an average age of 25, third-lowest of the 32 World Cup teams.
