England are no longer classed as 'big game' by the Germans

As Fabio Capello and his players continue to lick their wounds following their brutal defeat in Bloemfontein last weekend, the Germans are preparing for a quarter-final meeting with Argentina in Cape Town tomorrow.

It is a repeat of the match at the same stage of the competition four years ago, when Germany won on penalties, a result that sparked ugly clashes between the teams. Germany also came out on top against the South Americans in the 1990 final thanks to Andreas Brehme's late penalty.

Clearly, they think of this weekend's game in a somewhat different light to the manner in which they assessed England.

"Now we are up against our own big five," said Lahm, with reference to the jungle animals that are such a prominent feature of life in South Africa.

"We have to show we can finally beat a big team – someone like Argentina, Brazil or Spain. Definitely, these are bigger opponents than England."

The statement was as simple as it was damning.

Quite possibly Lahm did not realise exactly how effective it was in slapping England down to size, having gone out of the competition at the same stage as South Korea, Japan and Mexico.

And it did not stop there.

In analysing Argentina's talents, general manager Oliver Bierhoff admitted Germany will have a far harder task finding fault with the South Americans than they did with Capello's team last weekend.

"It is not going to be easy on Saturday because Argentina are a stronger side than England," said Bierhoff. "There were some obvious English weaknesses that had all been there in the group stages.

"Argentina are much more powerful and stronger. They have very few weaknesses – although there must be some."

Neither Lukas Podolski nor star man Mesut Ozil trained yesterday, although both are expected to be fit.

Germany will also have a couple of familiar faces cheering them on in Michael Ballack, who will fly into Cape Town, having been ruled out of the tournament after suffering an ankle injury in the FA Cup final, and Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is a frequent visitor to major German matches.

Capello's position as England head coach has been further strengthened after FA board member David Sheepshanks indicated he believes the Italian should stay.

The FA board are likely to meet next week with Sir Dave Richards, the Premier League chairman who also heads the new 'Club England', seeking opinions before making a recommendation.

Sheepshanks's intervention – saying "knee-jerk reactions never work" – is a reflection that the opinion is now changing in favour of Capello staying.

Phil Gartside, a fellow board member and Bolton chairman, and Sir Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of football development, are both backing Capello.

Sheepshanks, the former Ipswich chairman, said: "Knee-jerk reactions never work. There are some very, very able and wise people around the FA board table and I have absolute confidence that they will come up with the right decision.

"Let's get this right. Fabio is tremendously able – one of the world's best managers – and a month ago I don't think you'd have heard many people disagree with that. He doesn't become a bad manager overnight."

Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association and a member of the FA's international committee, has called for a "committee of inquiry" to be set up to look at what he calls a crisis in English football.