Germany captain Philipp Lahm has ignited another row ahead of tomorrows crunch semi-final meeting with Spain saying he will not give up the armband when long-term skipper, Michael Ballack, returns to the fold.
Before the quarter final meeting with Argentina, Lahm was scathing in his criticism of the opposition accusing the South American's of being bad losers. Today in an interview with, German daily, Bild his comments hit closer to home:
"It's obvious that I'd like to keep the captain's armband. The job gives me a great deal of enjoyment. Why should I then give it up by choice?"
While the Bayern Munich fullback is the official World Cup captain. It was widely believed that Ballack, who suffered an ankle injury in Chelsea's FA Cup final win over Portsmouth, would pick up the baton once back to full fitness.
The 33 year old, who recently signed for Bayer Leverkusen, was present for his country's quarter final win over Argentina on Saturday. But his return to Europe on Monday has prompted speculation that there is friction between he and the stand in skipper after the Bild article.
As the leader of the most exuberant side at the tournament, Lahm is clearly reveling in his new role and enjoying the increased weight on his shoulders:
"If you do the job out there on the pitch and you have it under control, as in my case, you want more. You want more responsibility." Lahm added, "you want to take care of it all, that is the case with me."
The storm has caused team manager Oliver Bierhoff to pour cold water on the issue on Tuesday morning, insisting:
"There is no dissent whatsoever, not even a hint of conflict," adding that, "it is an unfortunate coincidence that Ballack's departure and Lahm's statement coincided."
Bierhoff, who scored the winning goal in Euro '96, maintained that the departure of the former Chelsea midfielder was for fitness reasons. As he looks to recover from the ankle injury in time for the beginning of the season with new club, Bayer Leverkusen. "He (Ballack) decided that it was better to continue treatment in Luxembourg."
Bierhoff would not criticise Lahm for the comments instead continuing the theme of allowing free speech as endorsed by head coach Joachim Lowe.
"We have freedom of speech in the team and need players willing to speak their mind. It is rather like when a player says he is disappointed to be left out; are you supposed to be annoyed that he is disappointed?"
"But in the end, it is the coach who makes the decision over who is captain."
As if news of discontent in their young squad was not bad enough, Paul the octopus has chosen Spain to win out in Wednesday's semi-final. The mollusk, based in an Oberhausen aquarium, has successfully predicted all of Germany's World Cup results so far including the defeat to Serbia in match day two.
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