Capello Hails Germany, Slams Referee

JOHANNESBURG, KOMPAS.com - England coach Fabio Capello hailed Germany and slammed the Uruguayan referee as his team crashed out of the World Cup Sunday after a 4-1 Bloemfontein humiliation. Frank Lampard had a legitimate goal disallowed by referee Jorge Larrionda when England were trailing 2-1 just before half-time as the great rivals met for the fifth time in the competition.

With England surging forward in the last-16 tie, the midfielder unleashed a drive that beat goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, landed in the net off the underside of the crossbar and bounced out. But Larrionda waved play on and Thomas Mueller scored twice within four minutes midway through the second half to earn Germany a quarter-final against Argentina or Mexico next Saturday in Cape Town.

“The Lampard incident was one of the most important in the match. The referee made one of the biggest mistakes,” said the veteran Italian who was coaching at a World Cup for the first time.

But he did not disguise his admiration for a young German team who could never have dreamt they would finish such convincing winners of a showdown that captured the imagination of the media worldwide.

“Germany are a great team ... we were caught out on the counter-attack,” admitted the man who took England to the first African World Cup in such impressive style.

England never clicked on the bigger stage, though, with a Robert Green howler gifting the United States an equaliser before they fought a dire goalless draw with Algeria. They improved to overcome Slovenia 1-0 while missing many scoring chances and Germany exposed serious defensive flaws with poor understanding between centrebacks John Terry and Matthew Upson handing Germany the lead.

Miroslav Klose took advantage to score and Lukas Podolski added a second before Upson won an aerial duel to nod England back into contention.

“We were aggressive from the first minute ... the win was highly deserved. We have always said that our goal is the semi-finals at least,” said Klose who was back after serving a one-match ban for a red card against Serbia.

Coach Joachim Loew added: “I said to my team at half-time, we need to try and score the third goal. We knew we could hit England on the counter-attack because they were open. Our players carried it off brilliantly.”

The previous widest margin between the countries was 4-2 for England after extra time in the 1966 World Cup final that also had a controversial moment with a Geoff Hurst goal allowed amid claims the ball did not cross the line. Argentina have been placed among the tournament favourites on the strength of convincing group wins over Nigeria, South Korea and Greece, but Mexico are likely to offer stiffer resistance in Johannesburg later Sunday.

While coach Diego Maradona has been thrilled by the swashbuckling style of his superstars with striker Gonzalo Higuain grabbing a hat-trick against the Koreans, he yearns for a Lionel Messi goal. The Barcelona icon has done just about everything except score, including becoming the youngest captain of his country when they overcame Greece early this week.

It took extra time and a wonder Maxi Rodriguez goal to separate Argentina and Mexico at the same stage in Germany four years ago and it could be close again with Mexico boasting a lively, creative mix of youth and wise heads. Netherlands face Slovakia, whose victory condemned defending champions Italy to an early exit, in the first half of the Monday schedule followed by a South American showdown between Brazil and Chile.