Germany v USA | Quarter-final
Fri Jun 21 | 1230 BST | Ulsan
Live on BBC Radio Five Live
Germany believe they are heading for their fourth world title - driven by the
fear of being branded back home as the generation that could not win the World
For the majority of the current squad, it will be their last
chance of glory at the very pinnacle of world football.
Veteran keeper Oliver Kahn underlined the motivation to not only defeat the
United States in the quarter-finals but also go all the way and give Germany
their fourth World Cup triumph - which would equal Brazil's record of four
Kahn, at 33, is one of the old men of the side and talks as though he does not
expect to emulate England's David Seaman and be playing on the world stage in
his late 30s.
"I'll be 37 next time around and there are also several players who will
never play a World Cup again and want to make the most of it this time," said
the Bayern Munich keeper.
"That's a great motivation."
If they can beat the USA, Germany - stunned 5-1 by England in their qualifying
campaign - will be in a semi-final with South Korea or Spain.
"We have had to recover from a crisis after the England defeat," Kahn
"Because of that and how we have had to fight back, we all stand closely
together and we now all share the same dream.
"Many players in the team were at Euro 2000 when we went out in the first
round and are eager to show that it was not the real Germany then."
Germany have three players returning from suspension as they bid to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup for an unprecedented tenth time.
Defenders Carsten Ramelow and Christian Ziege and midfielder Dietmar Hamann, are all available again for the clash on Friday.
But Marco Bode and Sebastian Kehl, who replaced the defensive pair for the second round 1-0 victory over Paraguay may yet keep their places.
Voeller hopes to be celebrating on Friday
And defender Christoph Metzelder, who injured his ankle against Paraguay, is back in training for a match that assistant coach Michael Skibbe says Germany will win.
In all four of their games so far, the Americans have scored early and then hung for victory.
The Germans played poorly in the second round against Paraguay, but squeezed through thanks to an 88th minute strike by Oliver Neuville.
Germany coach Rudi Voeller is likely to go with Neuville as partner for Miroslav Klose, who with five goals is joint top scorer in the tournament with Brazil's Ronaldo.