Knives Sharpened Ahead of China Friendly
October 11, 2005
Germany have hit a wall of criticism in their build-up for the 2006 World Cup on home soil and know the knives will be sharpened again should they fail to swat aside China in Wednesday's friendly in Hamburg.
After a positive 2005 Confederations Cup, when they reached the semi-finals, Germany looked to be on the up but a 2-1 reverse in Turkey on Saturday represented another setback.
"I had too much to do in that game and expect an improvement," said goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. "We are being criticized and deservedly so. But we should not panic and just make sure we turn in a good performance against China."
A 2-0 defeat in Slovakia and flattering 2-2 draw with the Netherlands has persuaded the media to laugh off claims from Jürgen Klinsmann that lifting the World Cup is realistic.
"The criticism we are receiving is fair but we should not hide from it," declared Klinsmann. "Our aim to become world champions has not changed despite recent results."
Kaiser criticizes Klinsi's transatlantic lifestyle
Germany's performances of late have not been the only fuel for the fire. West Germany's 1974 World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer has called for Klinsmann to spend more time in his homeland ahead of the 2006 World Cup finals.
Klinsmann has resided in the United States since taking charge in July 2004, often jetting back to his Californian home after matches, but Beckenbauer, head of the 2006 World Cup organizing committee, feels that cannot continue in the build-up to the finals.
"In the World Cup year he (Klinsmann) should spend more time in Germany than the United States," declared Beckenbauer. "That way he would avoid constant criticism that he is never here."
Klinsmann has maintained that he can get a different perspective by living outside of Germany but the poor recent results have increased the pressure. "The criticism that has surfaced now is an indication of what it will be like next year," added Beckenbauer. "A World Cup is never easy for any manager."
Ballack to miss China clash as pressure increases
Getting a result against the likes of China on Wednesday may hold off the criticism for a while but Germany have to improve. They face the Chinese without Bayern Munich star Michael Ballack who will be missing again with the flu but even without their captain Germany are expected to see off China at the AOL-Arena.
The warm-up game has an added twist in that SV Hamburg will net the match proceeds - expected to reach 1.5 million euros - as compensation for the Robert Hoyer match-fixing scandal. In January tainted referee Hoyzer admitted to rigging SC Paderborn's 4-2 shock cup victory over Hamburg in August 2004.
Germany will want to ensure that the underdogs do not come away with a win on Wednesday evening and FC Cologne striker Lukas Podolski insists China would not be underestimated. "We need to play at 100 percent in every game whether we are facing China, Liechtenstein or Brazil," stated Podolski.
Chinese would love a big scalp
Having failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup China's next big challenge is the 2008 Olympic Games in Peking.
Two Chinese stars of the English Premiership -- Everton's Li Tie and Manchester City's Sun Jihai -- are two of the big players in the China set-up and manager Zhu Guanghu admits his team will play on the counter attack. "We need to switch defense into attack very quickly," said Guanghu. "This will be a good learning curve for us."
A sucker punch could see heavyweights Germany facing the wrath of the tabloids again.