BERLIN, 23 June — Franz Beckenbauer said yesterday that Germany’s performance had been “inadequate” in Friday’s narrow 1-0 World Cup quarterfinal win over the United States and he would have felt personally insulted by their effort if he were still coach. Beckenbauer, trainer of the 1990 team that won the World Cup and captain of the winning 1974 side, said Germany had only played well in their opening 8-0 victory over Saudi Arabia.
“It was a very inadequate performance,” Beckenbauer wrote in a column in Bild newspaper yesterday.
“To put it bluntly, if we did not have Olli Kahn we would have been sent home a long time ago. We’ve barely scraped through in every match except for the match against the Saudis, who practically invited us into their goal.”
Beckenbauer, a popular television and newspaper commentator in Germany because of his concise and direct style, said trainer Rudi Voeller needed to get more aggressive with the team.
“They’re going to have to play a lot better in the semifinals,” he said.
“I would have felt personally insulted as the trainer if my team had delivered a performance like that. In 1990, after we played a weak match against 10 Czechs, I threw a bucket filled with ice across the locker room. They’re going to have to feel it for themselves that they have to raise their game.” Beckenbauer, 56, said the Americans, who many in Germany view as a second-rate soccer nation, had clearly outplayed the favorites.
“Except for 10 minutes before halftime, the Americans were given free rein on the pitch,” he said. “There was a lack of movement, a lack of confidence. The team looked to be frightened.” He said perhaps the fear of an embarrassing loss to the United States had played a role.
“We were the favorites and every player knew that if we had lost to the Americans the whole football world would have laughed at us,” Beckenbauer said. “That’s the kind of thing that sticks in the back of your head for the whole 90 minutes.”
“Rudi could put the whole team in a bag and, aside from Kahn, no matter who he pulls out to put on the field, it would be the right choice,” he said. “We don’t have any bad players, but at the same time there aren’t any truly good ones either.”
“We are in the final four and that is delightful,” he said. “But only thanks to Oliver Kahn. And that isn’t so delightful when you think that we had to use everything we had to stop the Americans.
“That’s not going to work forever. We can’t always count on Olli. He’s playing like a world champion, but he needs the support of the team.”
