Germany hurting

Effenberg confident of success with Wolfsburg

WOLFSBURG, Germany (Reuters) -- Former German international Stefan Effenberg says his new club VfL Wolfsburg can become a leading force in the German first division.

Effenberg, who joined the club on Friday, said he had picked Wolfsburg because he felt it was similar to the Borussia Moenchengladbach team he led in the early 1990s.

"I'm certain that I can help move some things here," Effenberg told a packed news conference on Monday in the central German town made famous as the headquarters for carmaker Volkswagen AG.

"I believe that we can get fifth or sixth place in any case. I'm really looking forward to this challenge."

Effenberg, who helped Bayern Munich win three Bundesliga titles as well as the 2001 Champions League with Germany, signed for Wolfsburg after turning down several offers from abroad. His contract with Bayern expired at the end of last season.

"This has a back-to-the-roots feeling about it," he said. "The structure here is similar to Moenchengladbach. I believe that a similar euphoria can arise here."

The club said the 34-year-old, who will probably end his turbulent career at Wolfsburg, had signed a one-year contract.

Wolfsburg started secret negotiations with Effenberg after failing to sign another former Bayern Munich player, Swiss international Ciriaco Sforza, who decided on Sunday to return to Kaiserslautern.

Effenberg has fond memories of Wolfsburg as it was there that he helped Moenchengladbach avoid relegation with a 2-0 victory in the final game of the 1997-98 season.

Wolfsburg, a club in a small northern town near Hanover, were promoted to the top flight for the first time in 1997. They finished 10th in last season's Bundesliga standings.

Germany lose another three players to injury

BERLIN (Reuters) -- Germany's build-up to their friendly with Bulgaria on Wednesday suffered another blow when three players pulled out of the squad on Monday.

Striker Oliver Neuville from Bayer Leverkusen, midfielders Torsten Frings of Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool's Dietmar Hamann will miss Germany's first match since the World Cup final, the German football association (DFB) said.

Frings and Hamann have knee injuries while Neuville has an injured heel.

Germany coach Rudi Voeller called up Tim Borowski and Fabian Ernst from Werder Bremen as replacements. Both had been previously recruited for a World Cup warm-up match in May against Kuwait which Germany won 7-0.

On Saturday, Germany captain Oliver Kahn pulled out of the match as did midfielder Joerg Boehme from Schalke 04. Kahn has a knee injury.

Voeller called Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Hans-Joerg Butt into his 20-strong squad. Borussia Dortmund's Jens Lehmann is expected to replace Kahn in goal for the match in Sofia.

Other German players injured and not in the squad include Lars Ricken, Christian Ziege, Marko Rehmer, Frank Baumann, Jens Nowotny and Christian Woerns.

Voeller and his team were awarded the federal merit of honor by President Johannes Rau at a ceremony at the president's Bellevue Palace in Berlin after the team reached the World Cup finals.

"The outstanding performance of the team did a lot of good for Germany's image around the world," Rau said. "The World Cup excited us all. Even in the final against Brazil the German team were just as good as the Brazilian magicians."

Rau singled Voeller out for special praise, saying he was chiefly responsible for their success.

"This is a great honor for us," Voeller said. "We are all thankful for the recognition. It's nice to look back, but it is especially nice to get back to work. We have to start over from scratch again. I'll be happy when we return to normality."

Bulgaria looking to build confidence against Germany

SOFIA (Reuters) -- Bulgaria coach Plamen Markov sees Wednesday's international friendly against World Cup finalists Germany as an opportunity to build the side's confidence ahead of European championship qualifying.

"This is important for us as [a victory] would make the players more self-confident ahead of the start of our [European championship] qualifier away to Belgium on September 7," Markov told a news conference.

"We will see the individual abilities of the players as well as the condition of the team as a whole."

Bulgaria knocked defending champions Germany out of the 1994 World Cup at the quarter-finals stage but they finished last in their group stage four years later and failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

For the 2004 European championship in Portugal, Bulgaria were drawn in qualifying group eight alongside Belgium, Croatia, Estonia and Andorra.

Germany's team donates to flood victims

BERLIN (AP) -- The German national team has donated 1.5 million euros (US$1.4 million) to help rebuild sports sites in flood devastated East Germany, it was announced Monday.

German soccer authorities also said the national team would play a benefit match next year with the proceeds going to the flood victims.

"We're all deeply affected by the terrible pictures and said spontaneously we have to help," Germany coach Rudi Voeller said.

The national team is the latest to donate after Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher and numerous other German celebrities outside of sports.

Violent storms began tearing across the continent two weeks ago, leaving a trail of flooded cities and collapsed bridges and at least 105 people dead. Most of the damage was in Germany, which faces its biggest rebuilding effort since World War II.

 

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.