YOKOHAMA, 30 June — Germany delight in their underdog role in the World Cup final against Brazil but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to win a fourth title, coach Rudi Voeller said yesterday. Voeller said the star-studded Brazilian team were favorites and that Germany will require a collective team effort to spring a surprise against the four-time winners. “Naturally we are not the favorites but we want to make the most of it,” Voeller told a packed news conference.
“You don’t enter a game saying you don’t want to win. We have a realistic chance to win if we gain possession. We have to neutralize the Brazil players but also go forward ourselves,” Voeller said. Striker Oliver Bierhoff and left-back Marco Bode agreed. “We have less pressure than Brazil. We know they are tough to beat but we hope that we can run them down,” said Bierhoff. Bode said: “It is no secret that their strength is individual skill and the attack. They are possibly weak in defense although they have improved in this area. We will try and expose this.”
Voeller, who won the last title for Germany in 1990 as a player, said his players didn’t need any special instructions ahead of the first-ever World Cup meeting of the two teams boasting the best record in the tournament’s 72-year history. “It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Voeller said. As in the past, Voeller did not use the presence of at least 30 camera crews and hundreds of reporters at the Sheraton Bay hotel in downtown Yokohama to reveal the game tactics such as how to keep the likes of Ronaldo or Rivaldo at bay.
Neither did Voeller talk about the lineup, but Bayern Munich’s Jens Jeremies is expected to take the place of suspended Michael Ballack, who scored the winner on both 1-0 victories over the United States and South Korea for the place in the final. “We hope to find the right recipe and hope to be successful. We are flexible,” the 42-year-old Voeller said. Voeller may take some optimism from the fact that Brazil have failed to score a single goal in the last two finals, winning on penalties after 120 scoreless minutes against Italy in 1994 and losing 3-0 to France in 1998.
That may happen again given that the tournament’s best goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has let in just one goal in six games. “Oliver Kahn is the team captain and the world’s best goalkeeper. He is just as important as field players in other teams, such as Zinedine Zidane for France and Ronaldo for Brazil,” Voeller said. The coach also hopes that Miroslav Klose finally finds the net again. Klose notched five goals in the group stage but has not scored in the three knockout matches so far. “It’s about time he scores again, it would be so much the better,” Voeller said with a big smile. “We were spoilt by Miro in the group stage. He has come close to scoring in the other games but has also worked very well for the team.”
Voeller’s praise for Klose and the fact that he will likely field the skillful Oliver Neuville once again in the starting 11 leaves no room for Bierhoff, who will retire from the national team after the game. Bierhoff, 34, was a late starter for Germany and gained fame when he scored the equalizer and Golden Goal winner off the substitute’s bench in the Euro 1996 final with the Czech Republic. “I wouldn’t mind if it happened again,” Bierhoff said.
Voeller hails captain Kahn
as Germany’s Ronaldo
Inspirational goalkeeper Oliver Kahn is the key to today’s World Cup final and as important to Germany as Ronaldo and Rivaldo are to Brazil, Rudi Voeller believes.
The German coach makes no bones about the fact that only another outstanding display from Kahn will give his side a chance of stopping the Brazilians from lifting their fifth World Cup here today.
“He is our captain and in my opinion he is the world’s best keeper,” Voeller said on the eve of the match. “He has shown that in this World Cup but he also proves it week in, week out with his club, Bayern Munich.
“Everyone knows and he knows that he has to perform exceptionally well to get us through this final.
“He is as important for us as a Ronaldo, a Rivaldo or a Zidane.”
Kahn has conceded only one goal in Germany’s six matches here and there was no suggestion he was at fault when Robbie Keane lashed in an injury time equalizer for Ireland in a first round group match.
And with each match, Kahn’s air of invincibility seems to have grown. A string of crucial saves in Germany’s last two matches, against the United States and South Korea, have put him in the running for the Golden Ball, the trophy honoring the best player of the tournament. Former German coach Franz Beckenbauer says the issue does not even bear thinking about.
“He has only let in one goal and is absolutely for me the best goalkeeper in the world,” said Beckenbauer.
Kahn is a man after Beckenbauer’s own heart with his unyielding will to win every match he plays in and he can cut a fiercesome figure on the pitch as his face contorts into a grimace or he barks instructions at his defenders.
Off the field, the blond-mopped keeper is a modest figure, quick to play down the plaudits he has been showered with.
“It isn’t just my doing that I have conceded only one goal,” he said earlier this week. “The whole team is to be credited for that, especially the whole defense. Everyone has been playing really well. Their play has made things easier for me. I depend on the performance of the whole team. Kahn will take center stage if the final ends in penalties, as happened in 1994, when Brazil beat Italy on spotkicks.
