Fever pitch Germany fired up after penalty-kick win By ROB LONGLEY -- Toronto Sun Sat, July 1, 2006

Germany's Miroslav Klose (11) collides with Argentina goalie Roberto Abbondanzieri (1) in the second half of the quarterfinal World Cup soccer match between Germany and Argentina at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Friday, June 30, 2006.

BERLIN -- First they had to wait for the Argentines to stop weeping and throwing sucker punches.

Then the German players, delirious and victorious, jumped, danced and sang along with thousands of their overjoyed countrymen lucky enough to be in the stadium.

A celebration that started three weeks ago is now reaching fever levels for the host nation of the 2006 World Cup.

For 20 minutes after their deliciously dramatic win in a quarter-final against the South American powerhouse yesterday (4-2 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 game), the German players became one with their fans.

The residents of this city took it much deeper, of course, and the nation celebrated along with them. It's going to be quite a weekend in Deutschland, that much is clear.

But nowhere were the emotions more raw -- both in joy and in anguish -- than on the Olympiostadion field in those moments after shootout turned blowout.

With captain Michael Ballack leading the chorus line, the victors revelled along with the crowd of 72,000 in a hopped-up victory lap that no one wanted to end.

So what if they had to delay it a few minutes? Bitter with the defeat and no doubt aware of how it will be received at home, the Argentines took losing to a shameful low.

Gabriel Heinze and Carlos Tevez stormed the German players celebrating on the field, fists flying, while several other Argentine players laid on the field and wept openly.

"It's the toughest thing for a team that fails in a shootout," German coach Juergen Klinsmann said. "Obviously you're the happiest person in the world if you win it and the saddest if you lose."

The former German star striker's counterpart, Jose Pekerman, could feel only pain.

After the game, he resigned in disgrace rather than face four years of second-guessing about why Hernan Crespo, Juan Riquelme and budding superstar Lionel Messi were all on the bench for extra time.

"After a loss like that, there is a lot of tension and the steam comes out," Pekerman said in a lame explanation of his player's reactions. "Maybe some of our players didn't like the way the Germans behaved."

In particular, one of the German substitutes was thought to rile the losers and it didn't sit too well.

A match that didn't start out as a classic gradually rose to a thrilling conclusion. The Germans watched as Argentina held onto the ball in the first half but couldn't move it far enough forward to threaten.

But when Roberto Ayala opened scoring four minutes into the second half, the tone and tempo changed. The Germans stepped up in attack, bringing the entertainment level up a notch.

With 10 minutes left in regulation, they were finally rewarded as Ballack's cross was headed first by Tim Borowski and then by Miroslav Klose for his fifth goal of the tournament.

Helped by the thunderous crowd to maintain momentum, all the Germans needed was to get through regulation.

With goalkeeper Jens Lehmann one of the best at his position, suddenly the hosts played like they were favourites, so confident were they if it came down to a shootout.

They looked supremely so, scoring easily on their four attempts. When Ayala botched his effort and Lehmann correctly guessed where Esteban Cambiasso was going, it was a decisively one-sided way to end the draw.

Borowski's easy score -- on the heels of goals by Oliver Neuville, Ballack and Lukas Podolski -- clinched it, but Lehmann's two saves had made the result all but inevitable.

"It's unbelievable what's happening right now in Germany," said Klinsmann, a member of the 1990 championship team and now threatening to lead his country to a fourth World Cup title. "We're enjoying it and we're proud of it."

Ballack, who has yet to score in the tournament but is a worthy leader, needlessly apologized for the lack of classic action shown yesterday.

His team already has given more than most of its flag-waving fans far more than expected. And for them, that is the beauty to behold in all this.