Classes of 2006 recall classic soccer rivalry

When Germany play Argentina in the World Cup quarter-final in Berlin today it will be the third meeting of coaches Juergen Klinsmann and Jose Pekerman with the record all square.

In both previous meetings, the teams drew 2-2, in a friendly in Duesseldorf in February 2005 when Hernan Crespo scored both Argentine goals and in a Confederations Cup match in Nuremberg a year ago.

Klinsmann and Pekerman have both been in their jobs for almost the same time, the German taking charge in August 2004, a month before Pekerman succeeded Marcelo Bielsa, who was doing well after his 2002 World Cup failure but quit by surprise.

The circumstances of each appointment were quite different, however, with Klinsmann's seen as an act of desperation rather than bravery by the German Football Association, DFB.

The DFB had been rejected by former Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld and Otto Rehhagel, who had just guided Greece to glory at Euro 2004, a tournament in which Rudi Voeller's German side had played poorly.

Pekerman, who as the Argentine Football Association's (AFA) technical director had appointed Bielsa in 1999, inherited a team that was doing well.

In 2004, Bielsa's sides won the Olympic gold medal and reached the Copa America final.

The last time the two nations met in a World Cup, when West Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in the Rome final in 1990, was the culmination of a coaching rivalry that marked the 1980s and which Klinsmann and Pekerman may only begin to emulate if they stay in their jobs beyond this tournament.

Franz Beckenbauer, president of the organising committee for this World Cup, faced Argentina's Carlos Bilardo in two World Cup finals, each winning one, and several significant friendlies.