Soccer Spat

With Germany having easily qualified for the Euro 2008, one would think that everything would be hunky-dory between the national team and the Bundesliga's clubs. Think again.

The conflict began with a recent suggestion by national team representatives to hold a round-table discussion to talk about the poor showing by Bundesliga sides in this year's Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions. One of the issues to be discussed was a perceived lack of coherent soccer philosophy among German clubs.

That raised the hackles of many club coaches and managers, and Völler, who's now commercial manager at Leverkusen, took out his ire on Bierhoff -- a former German international.

"I would suggest Oliver Bierhoff show a bit more humility," said Völler in an interview with the German soccer magazine kicker. "With players who've been trained at clubs like Cologne, Bayern Munich, Stuttgart, Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen, you can put a philosophy into practice. But a philosophy for a player like Oliver Bierhoff has yet to be invented. You can't demand Brazilian style if you yourself have feet from Malta."

Below the belt

Völler, rarely one to shy away from a good rant, continued to lambaste the Germany manager.

"In the next few days, Oliver Bierhoff should consult Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt [Germany's national team physician]," Völler said. "He probably has some painful internal injuries resulting from permanently patting himself on the back."

There's been no love lost between the suave Bierhoff and the salt-of-the-earth Völler since early 2002, when then-national-coach Völler stripped then-player Bierhoff of his position as team captain. Bierhoff became Germany's manager in 2004, when Jürgen Klinsmann took over as coach from Völler.

Bierhoff has been quick to fire some salvos of his own.

"Personally, it amazes me the way things go below the belt, if someone doesn't have any arguments," Bierhoff shot back in a statement. "This is the sort of criticism that comes out over a few beers at the pub. I have to accept that fact, but it's beneath my dignity."

Media glee

But the former top striker was clearly irritated by the jibe about him having feet from Malta.

"That's absolute nonsense," Bierhoff huffed. "I won the Italian league with AC Milan, was Italy's top goal scorer one year and am one of few players to have scored more than 100 goals."

Bierhoff also scored 37 goals in 70 appearances for Germany -- 10 fewer than Völler.

The Völler-Bierhoff feud has completely overshadowed Germany's last Euro 2008 qualifying match against Wales on Wednesday, Nov. 21, which is largely meaningless. Newspapers around the country have gleefully reprinted the insults and counter-insults, pouring further oil on the fiery relationship between the two former German soccer greats.