BERLIN, July 1: It could be beginner's luck or a natural flair for the job but for the moment at least Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann can do no wrong.

His team squeezed into the World Cup semi-finals with a 4-2 victory on penalties against Argentina on Friday after the match finished 1-1 at the end of extra time.

Klinsmann, once again, could take immense personal satisfaction from the result, which takes the hosts through to face Italy in Dortmund on Tuesday.

Klinsmann, who had no coaching experience when he took over in August 2004, installed Jens Lehmann as goalkeeper after the Arsenal player won a personal battle with Bayern Munich's Oliver Kahn that got extremely nasty at times.

That decision was vindicated on Friday, as Lehmann saved penalties from Roberto Ayala and Esteban Cambiasso to send the German fans in the 72,000 Olympiastadion crowd into raptures.

Klinsmann could also be proud of his substitutions.

After 62 minutes, he sent on lightning quick winger David Odonkor to play on the right, which immediately stopped the dangerous forward runs of Argentina left back Juan Pablo Sorin.

His second substitute, midfielder Tim Borowski, had a hand in the equaliser.

Germany, who had gone behind to an Ayala header in the 49th minute, were running out of ideas before Borowski headed on a Michael Ballack cross for Miroslav Klose to score.

It was all just par for the course for Klinsmann at this World Cup.

The coach had held firm before the first match and decided it was not worth risking Ballack, even after the captain had declared himself fit. Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2.

In the second game, Klinsmann brought on Odonkor and Oliver Neuville as late substitutes against Poland. In the final minute, Odonkor crossed and Neuville slid in to score the only goal.

Against Ecuador, he kept faith when newspapers called for him to drop out-of-sorts striker Lukas Podolski and the youngster responded with a goal in a 3-0 win. In the second round against Sweden, Podolski got two more.

There was one more telling moment on Friday.

Before the start of the shootout against Argentina, Kahn and Lehmann smiled, embraced and shared a long handshake.

“I saw that and I can tell you it wasn't a surprise to me,” Klinsmann told reporters. “Oliver contributes so much to this team. We all root for each other.”

If Klinsmann has succeeded in making Kahn and Lehmann friends, anything really is possible as they contemplate a semi-final against Italy in Dortmund on Tuesday.—Reuters