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| Wednesday, March 27, 2002 20:05 EST |
Shaky American defense exploited
[Associated Press]
ROSTOCK, Germany -- Germany scored three goals in a seven-minute
span to beat the United States 4-2 Wednesday night in an exhibition
game to prepare the teams for the World Cup.
Clint Mathis scored both goals for the Americans, but their
defense could not hold a German team depleted by injuries.
Mathis scored the first goal in the 17th minute, but Christian
Ziege tied it in the 44th. Oliver Neuville, Oliver Bierhoff and
Torsten Frings scored in quick succession starting in the 61st
minute. Mathis got his second goal in the 70th minute.
"I thought the Germans played well, they dominated us
physically," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said. "A couple of our guys
bailed out on plays. ... They moved better, they thought better,
they beat us in all phases of the game."
Germany, missing about half its likely World Cup roster because
of injuries and other reasons, also lost key midfielder Michael
Ballack, its top scorer in the qualifying, to a hamstring injury.
"I'm happy with the attitude of our players," German coach
Rudi Voeller said. "They gave everything from the first to the
last minute, even though our lineup was a bit makeshift. The
Americans smartly knew how to take apart our three-man defensive
line. We had some problems keeping our lines together."
The United States, which lost to Germany 2-0 in the 1998 World
Cup, was without captain Claudio Reyna, while forward Brian McBride
and midfielder John O'Brien were on the bench because of injuries.
The match in this chilly Baltic port city was played with tight
security. Hundreds of police and border troops checked the crowd of
about 29,000 in Ostsee Stadium.
Ziege beat Tottenham Hotspur teammate Kasey Keller in the
American goal early on, but Jeff Agoos cleared the ball off the
line. Keller then had to charge off the line twice for diving saves
to deny Oliver Bierhoff and Bernd Schneider.
Just as the Germans appeared to begin dominating, the Americans
scored when Jovan Kirovski shook off Frank Baumann on the left side
a slipped a pass to Mathis, who was unchallenged. His first effort
bounced off the post and he tapped in the rebound past goalkeeper
Frank Rost.
In the 24th, Mathis should have made it 2-0 but he drove the
ball over the bar from six yards out. Ziege then tied it with a
curling free kick over the defensive wall, a shot that went in off
Keller's fingertips.
Neuville scored the go-ahead goal on a header, and Bierhoff got
his 33rd international goal in 61 appearances off a pass from
Schneider after Agoos failed to clear the ball.
Frings scored off a pass from Joerg Boehme. After Mathis' goal,
U.S. coach Bruce Arena reshuffled his shaky defense, sending in
Gregg Berhalter and Tony Sanneh for Agoos and Steve Cherundolo.
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