German defence rests on clean sheets

After leaking two goals in the World Cup opener against Costa Rica, Germany's defence had silenced its critics by proving watertight over the last three games, said defensive midfielder Torsten Frings.

Frings, who has played a more defensive role than he is used to at Werder Bremen, said he was delighted that the talk in Germany was no longer about the team scoring enough goals to compensate for the inevitable defensive errors.

"All the blather about our supposedly weak defence has stopped," Frings told reporters.

"We're playing a compact game and we've only conceded two goals in four games."

Germany beat Poland and Ecuador without conceding a goal in their remaining Group A games, before eliminating Sweden with a convincing 2-0 win in the second round.

Friday's quarter-final against Argentina would provide a far stiffer test than anything faced so far, but the run of clean sheets had given the German defence confidence and self-belief.

"We know that facing these players will be difficult but we are not quaking in our boots," centre-back Per Mertesacker said.

"Players like Saviola can always turn you around but the whole team will stand together, just as we did in the last match against Sweden. We can pick up where we left off there."

Germany's improvement is down in large part to the return of captain Michael Ballack, who missed the game against Costa Rica with a calf injury, and the improving partnership of Mertesacker and Christoph Metzelder in the middle.

While Germany have not beaten top class international opposition since their 1-0 win over England at Wembley in October, 2000, Frings said the current side were good enough to beat soccer's elite.

They have come close twice against Argentina, drawing 2-2 in a friendly in February 2005 and again at the Confederations Cup.

"Both times we were almost able to prove we were the better team," Frings said.

"We're capable of beating them now, of at last getting a victory over one of the giants."