Germans' proud record is scratched

GERMANY will be represented in the quarter-finals of the European Championships after all, but not as they would have wished.

The competition specialists departed the competition in Portugal with a whimper, losing to what was virtually a Czech Republic second choice team, and they must watch with envy as German-born coach Otto Rehhagel leads Greece in today's quarter-final against France in Lisbon.

Germany, with five final appearances and three wins in the competition, boast a record far superior to that of the rest of Europe.

They beat the old USSR 3-0 in the 1972 final in Brussels, looked to the giant Horst Hrubesch to snatch a late winner against Belgium in the 1980 final in Rome and beat the Czech Republic at Wembley in 1996 when Oliver Bierhoff fired home a golden goal in extra time.

"Football is a game that is played for 90 minutes and then the Germans win" someone famously said. But not any more if recent records are a guide.

Germany's departure from Portugal was eerily similar to their eclipse in the finals of 2000 in Holland and Belgium. Then, they went into their third group match against Portugal needing a win to survive. They were beaten 3-0 by a Portuguese team that contained several second choice players.

This time the Germans also went home without a win two drawn matches against Netherlands and Latvia followed by the defeat by the Czechs. They scored only two goals, through Torsten Frings and Michael Ballack.

Yet manager Rudi Voeller said: "This cannot be compared to the debacle of four years ago. We had our chances but it's disappointing to lose against a second-string Czech team. Despite all the dedication it was not enough."

The harsh truth is, however, Germany have not beaten a European team at a major tournament since their 2-1 win over the Czechs in the Euro '96 final.

Voeller took over as coach four years ago from Erich Ribbeck following the humiliation of the 2000 championship. Initially the charisma of one of Germany's most famous strikers Voeller was on the team that won the World Cup in 1990 helped revive their fortunes.

They performed admirably in the World Cup of 2002 despite the trauma of a 1-5 defeat at home by England in the qualifiers. Ireland drew with Germany in the group stages in South Korea and Japan, but it was Germany who went on to reach the final where they gave Brazil a mighty contest before losing to Ronaldo's double.

For a brief period all seemed right with the world, but not for long. Germany struggled to qualify for Portugal and questions were raised about Voeller's loyalty to some of their older players, most notably goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

Perhaps Voeller's decision to stick with the 35year-old Kahn owed something to the fallibility of his deputy, Arsenal's Jens Lehman. Either way he was accused in the German press of being suspicious of youth when he chose not to expose the promising Timo Hildebrand to much international football despite his exciting club form with Stuttgart.

Reports suggested Voeller was jeered by the German fans in the stadium after the defeat by the Czechs, but that was untrue. When he marched across the pitch towards the fans applauding them for their support, they rose in unison to respond enthusiastically. Of course, there may have been one or two dissenters, but the great mass of fans were supportive of the popular Voeller.

He insisted yesterday that he was leaving the squad in much better shape than he had found it when he took the job four years ago. His record over the four years was 53 games played, 29 wins, 13 draws, 11 losses.

He said: "We had four under-21 players playing against the Czechs and the future is not bleak. It is a lot better than a few years ago, with a lot of young players showing promise."

Two who contributed positively to this championship were the 19-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and 21-year-old Stuttgart's left-winger, Philipp Lahm.

Others who are still finding their feet at international level and are sure to be part of German's preparations for the World Cup finals in their own country are Lukas Podolski of Cologne (18) and Kevin Kuranyi (22). They both played against the Czechs to offer a ray of hope for two years' time.

Perhaps it is not just new players the Germans need but a new philosophy. Their stilted style of play has not changed in my memory, their system lacks modernity and lacks flexibility. While their main player, Michael Ballack performed extremely well, he could not open a path to goal for the front-runners. That could be a criticism of Ballack, but it might also be down to a lack of initiative from the players around him.

Whither the future of German football? The probability is they will now turn to the most successful club manager in Germany, Ottmar Hitzfeld, who is currently out of work after spells with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

Meantime, the disaster that was Germany's latest championship campaign has cut deeply into the heart of a proud footballing nation, one with a history and tradition to rival that of Brazil.

The Bild newspaper summed up the feeling in Germany when it ran this headline: "Rudi, We're The Idiots Of Europe."

The World Cup on home soil may provide German football with the opportunity to prove that sentiment wrong.