PUSAN (South Korea), June 20: After a series of stunning World Cup shocks, three-times champions Germany will hope for a return to normality when they face the United States in the quarterfinals on Friday.

While many of their major rivals have gone tumbling out in the early rounds, Germany have eased relatively smoothly into the last eight for the 14th time in the 15 finals tournaments they have played in.

However, after going out at this stage in the last two tournaments in shock defeats to Bulgaria (1994) and Croatia (1998), they will be desperate to avoid an unwelcome hat-trick.

The United States have already surpassed expectations but now, with absolutely nothing to lose, they have the opportunity to reach undreamed of heights by claiming the scalp of the most consistent country in World Cup history.

Germany, however, go into the game in better shape than they have been for several years, with confidence oozing all over the squad.

After blitzing Saudi Arabia 8-0 in their first game, they drew 1-1 with Ireland, produced a battling display to beat Cameroon 2-0 with 10 men and then ground out a 1-0 win over Paraguay in the second round.

The confidence and the performances have been in marked contrast to two years ago when they crashed out of the European championship in the first round and last September when they were thrashed 5-1 at home by England in a qualifying match.

“I’ve never seen such a good atmosphere in my entire career,” said striker Oliver Neuville.

Much of the credit for the change goes to coach Rudi Voeller, who is universally popular with the players and was in Germany’s World Cup winning team in 1990.

Voeller accepts that his side will have to step up a level from their performance against Paraguay but should be helped by the return of defender Carsten Ramelow and midfielders Dietmar Hamann and Christian Ziege from suspension.

U.S. coach Bruce Arena is banking on the lack of expectation to help his under-rated team pull off a shock that would massively eclipse their already impressive victories over Portugal and Mexico.

“The team that have to win this game is the Germans,” Arena said on Wednesday. “If we don’t win we’ll do fine. We’ll be home and everyone will be happy with us.”

The Americans’ only previous venture into the latter stages came in 1930 when they reached the semi-finals by playing just two games, and, despite Arena’s chilled approach, he and his team have real confidence that they can match that achievement.

“We enter the game with the belief that we can win,” the aoch said. “We know that on any given day we can beat anyone in the world.”

To achieve that Arena is likely to employ the counter-attacking tactics that worked so well in the 2-0 second round win over Mexico.

The coach is wary of Germany’s aerial threat and may stick with the three centre backs he deployed against Mexico. He also has to decide if there is a place for full back Frank Hejduk, back from suspension.

Jeff Agoos is doubtful with a calf injury, so Eddie Pope, Pablo Mastroeni and Gregg Berhalter will probably have the difficult task of trying to neutralise playmaker Michael Ballack and five-goal striker Miroslav Klose.

Lively 20-year-old midfielder Landon Donovan, described by Arena as “oblivious to pressure”, and big striker Brian McBride have two goals each and will carry much of the responsibility of beating German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn for only the second time in the tournament.

The teams have met several times in friendlies recently, Germany winning the last one 4-2 in March and the U.S. chalking up morale-boosting 2-0 and 3-0 victories in 1999.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he expected Germany to defeat the American underdogs easily in the quarterfinals of the World Cup on Friday.

“I expect a 2-0 win for Germany,” Schroeder, a former amateur soccer player, told Germany’s NDR radio on Thursday. “The team is ready to fight. The will to win is there. As a result the chances of beating the United States are good.”

Schroeder delayed the start of a campaign speech on Saturday to watch Germany’s match against Paraguay with several hundred union leaders on a giant television screen. He leapt for joy when Germany scored a goal en route to a 1-0 win.

At the same time Schroeder warned against placing high expectations on the German side.

“I don’t want to join the ranks of the millions who second guess the Germany trainer,” Schroeder said. “It’s not fair to try to give advice from the outside.”

Schroeder, fighting an uphill battle to win re-election, said it was “pure coincidence” that incumbent chancellors have won every election after German teams won the World Cup or European championships.

PROBABLE TEAMS: