Stars condemn Germans for staying back

WHEN the final whistle blew, Germany’s Carsten Ramelow was as frustrated as he had been helpless when the watched Robbie Keane slip past him for Ireland’s injury time winner.

"These things shouldn’t happen, but they do happen," he said.

"That’s not saying there’s an excuse, but the Irish put us under a lot of pressure late on, attacking with three strikers. In the final minutes they played many long balls, and when your opponents do that, there’s always the possibility that something like that happens."

But there was one question on every German football fan’s lips: Why were they playing so deep?

Ramelow explains. "We didn’t want to, but the Irish exerted a lot of pressure, and these things happen."

Ramelow’s evasive statement echoed the bewilderment felt by many German football people and experts.

As early as the half-time break, Franz Beckenbauer made out Germany’s right wing as a potential cause for concern, saying: "Schneider is beginning to edge towards the centre, and he has to stay on the wing to shut down this flank."

In the end, however, it appeared that the other part of the pitch was the problem. "We got under so much pressure," explained Rudi Voeller "because we were unable to properly counterattack."

Former Germany goalkeeper Harald Schumacher was particularly angry over the German passivity.

"We started well," he said, "and got ahead deservedly. And then we left all initiative to the Irish, thinking we would catch them on the break. And once you start playing so deep you’re in trouble."

Voeller claimed later he had tried to signal to his players to move upfield, but to no avail. On the other hand, he also said he’d "brought on substitutes who are good in the air, because the Irish put us under such pressure."

Some felt he would have been better employed bringing on a fast, nippy player such as Neuville rather than hoping the storm would pass and Germany could escape with a lucky win.

Listening to Michael Ballack afterwards, many felt the rearguard action was Germany’s only plan once they scored through Klose.

"We fell back and waited for the Irish to come at us so that we could catch them on the break. We did have a few opportunities to do so, but didn’t score," Ballack said.

Most Germans consider the result helps Ireland a lot more than Germany.

And now Germany are, in the words of Franz Beckenbauer, "facing a final against Cameroon and that’s what we wanted to avoid. A draw would probably be enough, but getting into that situation in the first place was unnecessary. We should have won today."

The German public, it seems, backs Beckenbauer on this one and doesn’t fancy playing Cameroon and their German coach Winfried Schaefer too much.

In a survey before yesterday’s match 12% of people polled thought Germany would not survive the group stage. After the 90 minutes, that figure had risen to 26%.