Posted by Luke Cyphers

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- For a few minutes, Diego Maradona was boring, dull enough to make you believe he's taking Saturday's World Cup quarterfinal match with Germany seriously.

In his news conference on the eve of the biggest game of his coaching career, the Argentina coach made a vow to avoid any verbal sparring, and mostly made good on it. "There is no need to talk about our opponents, as they have done," he said. "We are exclusively focused on our side."

He barely talked about the Germans, and never made mention of Bastian Schweinsteiger, who this week accused the Argentines of trying to bully the referees and showing "a lack of respect." A day later, Maradona mocked the German midfielder, asking if he was "nervoushhh."

Friday was different. Maradona declined to gloat even a little about the elimination of archrival Brazil. "I have other business," he said, "and I cannot think about Brazil."

But the man can't help himself in stirring things up these days. So he went after the tournament referees. He ridiculed the call that denied a goal by England against Germany. "England's goal was very clear indeed," he said. "If [officials] can't see that, why are they here?" In taking aim at that call, he delivered his only real verbal jab at his upcoming foes, calling the 4-1 score "a bit of a lie … England made it really easy."

He also weighed in on a relatively noncontroversial goal: the strike by Spain's David Villa against Portugal in the Spaniards' 1-0 second-round win. "It was an offside," Maradona said. Argentina benefitted from a missed offside call against Mexico, when Carlos Tevez, clearly behind the defense, scored a goal that held up. "They said Tevez was offside; that [Spain] goal was offside, too."

As for his players, Maradona said they are ready, as they should be. "They have to leave their life on the pitch," he said. "Behind them is a whole country."

So no pressure, really.