Argentina Coach Diego Maradona says "will not need the Hand of God, because it is the will of God" that they will win the World Cup, and told Bayer Munich Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger that criticism of his team will backfire on Germany when the two countries meet in Saturday's quarter-final.
A figure of fun prior to the start of the tournament, Diego Maradona has instead made a mockery of concerns over his coaching style by leading Argentina to four successive wins, scoring ten goals in the process, and setting up a quarter-final clash with Joachim Low's Germany.
Diego Maradona is a figure synonymous with the World Cup having proved so inspirational when Argentina won the trophy in 1986 - with his handball helping defeat England in the quarter-finals - and he touched on his most infamous moment on Friday when discussing his hopes of lifting the trophy once again, this time as a coach.
"I spoke with a group of children yesterday and they said to me: 'Diego, we want to get to the final. Can you give us that?'" Maradona said. "So I told them to calm down. In the end, it is about whether God wants us to be in the final, but I know that is what God wants. This time we will not need the Hand of God, because it is the will of God.
"I have spoken to my father who is not in the best of health, but he said that if we reach the final then he will come here to see us win. He just said: 'Do what you did in 1986, son'."
Ahead of Saturday's quarter-final, Germany midfielder Schweinsteiger said Argentina were guilty of a "lack of respect" in the manner of their play and the way they interact with referees, while German captain Philipp Lahm claimed the South Americans were bad losers - with both men harking back to the meeting of the countries in the 2006 quarter-finals when Germany won on penalties and a scuffle broke out between both sets of players and coaches.
Diego Maradona taunted Schweinsteiger on Thursday, asking the midfielder if he was "nervous", and has further warned that criticism of Argentina will only serve to minimise Germany's chances of reaching the semi-finals.
"We have no pressure on us, but we do have responsibilities to take the World Cup with us back to Argentina," Diego Maradona said. "We are fully prepared and are motivated to win. We have to make Germany pay for what they have said about us in the last few days.
"We will not forget what Bastian Schweinsteiger said. He has not treated us well at all, saying we are a misfit team. We will show them our qualities by playing football, by doing what we can do with the ball. I will see to that."
Low has sought to limit the fall-out from Schweinsteiger's comments by complimenting both Argentina and their enigmatic coach, but the Germany boss has underlined his fears that Saturday's opponents are over-physical in their approach.
"We have great respect for the Argentinian team, but we know they play very physically," he said. "They push it to the limits. That's typical of South American teams. They're great people, but their play doesn't match the character of their nation. They're very aggressive on the pitch and that's what Bastian was saying. This will be a cut-throat fight again. It'll be aggressive, intense. Everyone will fight for every centimetre of ground.
"No other country can compete in terms of the number of talented forwards at their disposal. To think that Diego Milito, who had such a fantastic season in Europe with Internazionale, does not even make their starting line-up ... their firepower is remarkable, so it's not just Lionel Messi we have to worry about. In 2006 we compiled a list of their penalty takers for Jens Lehmann. This time we'd need a brochure given the forward players they have. We've been warned. We know their attacking power.
Low singled out Messi as a likely threat to Germany and the reigning World Player of the Year will be fit to start Saturday's game, despite missing training on Friday afternoon due to a touch of 'flu.
"He told me about it and I sent him back inside," Maradona said. "It was very cold when we started training at 4.30pm. I gave him a bit of a rest. The session went well, but I never considered him not playing in this game. I just let him have a rest so he could play against Germany.''
"But you'd expect that of a side coached by Maradona. I remember him illuminating the tournaments in 1986 and 1990. He galvanised the whole football world with his skills in those finals - he was simply magical. He left a mark on football like no other player has ever done and he virtually decided the 1986 World Cup by his hand alone. Germany and Argentina have a wonderful history of meetings; I hope this will be another."
