The Germans delivered zee final insult to England yesterday by saying we are not a 'big team'.

Their skipper Philipp Lahm claimed they now had to be beat the "Big Five" - a reference to game on safari  - to win the World Cup in South Africa.

And he rubbed salt in the wounds of their crushing 4-1 victory over us on Sunday by saying they were all "much bigger opponents" than England.

It came as the Germans were involved in a bizarre war of words with Argentina before their big quarter final showdown in Cape Town tomorrow.

Argentina boss Diego Maradona put on a fake German accent to taunt their star player Sebastian Schweinsteiger, taunting him: "Are you nervoussh?".

Lahm claimed the Argentinians were likely to get 'emotional' and dismissed England: "Now we are up against our own big five. We have to show we can finally beat a big team - someone like Argentina, Brazil or Spain.

"Definitely, these are bigger opponents than England."

Germany general manager Oliver Bierhoff added: "It is not going to be easy because Argentina are a stronger side than England.

"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."

Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger had a jibe at Argentina's reaction to their penalty shoot-out defeat when the two sides met in the World Cup quarter-final four years ago.