German Roundup

Voeller leaves out Ballack for friendly

BERLIN (Reuters) -- Germany coach Rudi Voeller took no risks and has left out convalescing playmaker Michael Ballack for a friendly international against Serbia and Montenegro on Wednesday.

Ballack, who has been sidelined for seven weeks with an ankle injury, should return for Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich at the weekend but was not included in the 18-man squad unveiled by Voeller on Thursday for the game in Bremen.

"He could have played for a short spell but he is too important to us for the qualifiers to come," said Voeller, who will desperately need Ballack when his men play Scotland in a Euro 2004 qualifier on June 7.

Germany, Scotland and Lithuania are level on seven points at the top of Group Five and the game in Glasgow will be crucial in the race for automatic qualification.

VfB Stuttgart defender Andreas Hinkel was the only uncapped player named by Voeller, who wants his team to improve on a dismal 1-1 draw with Lithuania in their previous Euro qualifier last month.

"This is an important test against a team with plenty of quality," said Voeller, who plans to call Lothar Matthaeus, a former Germany captain and now the coach at Partizan Belgrade, for some advice on the team formerly known as Yugoslavia.

Striker Kevin Kuranyi, another player from Stuttgart who are second in the Bundesliga and fighting for a Champions League berth, was also called up by Voeller.

Hinkel, 21, was in the squad for the qualifier against Lithuania but did not play.

Voeller will also have to do without Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Bernd Schneider and Tottenham Hotspur wing back Christian Ziege. Both are injured.

Bayern midfielder Jens Jeremies and Werder Bremen defender Frank Baumann return after missing the Lithuania game through injury.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich), Frank Rost (Schalke 04)

Defenders: Frank Baumann (Werder Bremen), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Andreas Hinkel (VfB Stuttgart), Tobias Rau (VfL Wolfsburg), Christian Woerns (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders: Joerg Boehme (Schalke 04), Torsten Frings, Sebastian Kehl (both Borussia Dortmund), Dietmar Hamann (Liverpool), Jens Jeremies (Bayern Munich), Carsten Ramelow (Bayer Leverkusen)

Strikers: Fredi Bobic (Hanover 96), Paul Freier (VfL Bochum), Miroslav Klose (Kaiserslautern), Kevin Kuranyi (VfB Stuttgart), Oliver Neuville (Bayer Leverkusen)

Ballack returns as Bayern closes in on title

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Michael Ballack is returning -- perhaps just in time to celebrate Bayern Munich's 18th Bundesliga title.

The influential midfielder has been missing since March 8, when he tore a ligament in his ankle. Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld hopes Ballack's return will snap his team's uncharacteristic slump at the finish of the season.

"The time of pain is over. It's great that I can play again," Ballack said Thursday.

Hitzfeld has been pushing for Ballack's quicker-than-expected return because the coach has blamed the lack of midfield creativity -- and a string of injuries -- for his team's slump. But the coach doesn't expect an immediate impact.

"After seven weeks of absence, you can't expect him to become the leader on the field immediately," Hitzfeld said.

Bayern has lost two in a row, hasn't won in three matches and has scored one goal in the last four games.

Still, Bayern has an 11-point lead and could clinch the title as early as Saturday, provided it wins in Wolfsburg and neither Stuttgart not Dortmund win.

Stuttgart is second, 11 points behind at 52, and hosts lowly Hansa Rostock. Dortmund, still the reigning champion which beat Bayern 1-0 last week, travels to 1860 Munich. Dortmund trails Bayern by 12 points.

"We are not doing any mathematics. We are looking forward to the game in Wolfsburg that we have to win," Ballack said.

Ballack, 26, not only supplies the decisive passes, he also has scored nine goals in 21 games this season.

The prospect of securing the title early left Hitzfeld seemingly cold.

"When we take it is secondary. We have to get back on form first," he said.

Club president Franz Beckenbauer also didn't care whether Bayern returned home with the title.

"It doesn't matter, Bayern will be champion anyway," he said.

Strike Roque Santa Cruz also will be in the roster after a knee injury. But four midfielders will be still missing -- Sebastian Deisler, Mehmet Scholl, Owen Hargreaves and Niko Kovac. Kovac is suspended and the others are injured.

Stuttgart's exciting young team is expected to prevent the Bavarians from sweeping the title already on Saturday. Eager to bounce back from a surprise 3-1 loss at Bochum, Stuttgart is likely to beat Rostock at home.

Goalkeeper Thomas Ernst, whose clumsy dribbling attempt allowed Bochum to come back into the match, is likely to lose his place to Timo Hildebrand.

Coach Felix Magath was trying to restore his players' confidence.

"We have to learn from such experiences. Perhaps some of the players feels more pressure when they hear talk of the Champions League," he said.

Striker Ioannis Amanatidis could be back after an ankle injury to support Kevin Kuranyi, another 21-year-old who has 14 goals this season.

Dortmund, buoyed by the win against the upcoming champion, also has been boosted by the reconciliation between coach Matthias Sammer and Brazilian striker Marcio Amoroso.

Amoroso, who scored the winner against Bayern after coming off the bench, said earlier this week that he would serve out his contract and stay at the club until 2005. Sammer has questioned Amoroso's fitness and commitment, often leaving the mercurial Brazilian on the bench. Amoroso led the Bundesliga with 18 goals last season and played a major role in Dortmund's march to the title.

If Amoroso again wins the scoring title next season, "I'll kiss his feet," Sammer said in response to Amoroso's decision to stay in Dortmund.

Away from the top of the table, the most compelling showdown featured Borussia Moenchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen. Leverkusen, last year's Bundesliga runner-up and Champions League finalist, is in the relegation zone in 16th place, three points behind Moenchengladbach.

A loss at Moenchengladbach would likely doom the club that was also in the German Cup final last season and narrowly missed out on a rare treble.

Leverkusen will be without international midfielder Bernd Schneider, who has a torn leg muscle. Veteran Ulf Kirsten, for years one of the most feared Bundesliga strikers, may return at age 37. Kirsten, practically already moved into Leverkusen's front office, hasn't played a league match in five months.

"For us, it's like a final, we can't go in afraid," said general manager Reiner Calmund.

"It's six-point match for us, we have to be beat our direct rival," responded Borussia coach Ewald Lienen.

In other matches Saturday, it's Hamburger SV vs. Nuremberg, Hertha Berlin vs. Hannover and Schalke vs. Bochum. On Sunday, Arminia Bielefeld plays Energie Cottbus and Kaiserslautern hosts Werder Bremen.

Bayern bosses disagree over TV deal row

BERLIN (Reuters) -- Bayern Munich's Franz Beckenbauer added some confusion to the row over a controversial marketing contract by saying on Thursday he was not in favor of the club negotiating their television deals on their own.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said at the weekend that Bayern would pull out of central marketing from next year and strike deals separately.

But Beckenbauer, a former club chairman and now the president of their supervisory board, thinks that would not be a good idea.

"Where would it all go?" Beckenbauer asked in an interview with German pay-TV channel Premiere.

"On one side you would have central marketing and on the other you would have one team opting for individual marketing. That would lead to a muddle and the situation could get totally out of control."

Central marketing, agreed by all Bundesliga clubs, ensures all the professional clubs benefit from a share of the money generated by television rights.

Rummenigge threatened that Bayern would pull out of the Bundesliga and deprive it of a precious source of income in the latest episode in the club's conflict with German soccer authorities.

Secret contract

Bayern have been at odds with the German Football League (DFL) since admitting in February that they had received 21.5 million euros (US$23.65 million) from the troubled KirchMedia group through a secret contract -- on top of television cash passed on to all German professional clubs via the DFL.

The dispute seemed settled after the runaway Bundesliga leaders agreed to pay three million euros to the DFL.

But the club then fell out with the DFL because of the statement by the ruling body which described Bayern's attitude as "morally reprehensible."

Bayern retorted by pulling all Bayern members out of the various commissions in which they represented the DFL.

Rummenigge said Bayern would have nothing more to do with the DFL and then came up with the separate marketing threat.

But Beckenbauer said peace would return between Germany's biggest draw and the body ruling the professional game in the country.

"No dispute lasts forever," the former World Cup-winning captain and coach told Premiere.

"We only complained about that unfortunate DFL statement. Maybe we over-reacted a little. I think it's just a matter of time, and then we'll stick together again."

Stuttgart wins with young team, marine drills

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) -- Maybe the secret of VfB Stuttgart's success, which has surprised everyone in Germany, is that practice sometimes resembles a Marine boot camp.

On a hot day recently, the players on the Bundesliga's youngest team ran up a steep hill forward and backward. Afterward, they jumped obstacles in a sandpit barefoot, then scrambled under the hurdles on their bellies.

"That's why we run everybody off their feet," said the club's Bulgarian veteran Krassimir Balakov, then grinned.

Stuttgart's unorthodox training methods may have made it the fittest club in Germany, but that alone doesn't explain how it wins -- especially since the club has been too broke to buy new players the last two seasons.

The club faces a 16.6 million euro (US$18.21 million) debt, the reason it couldn't afford the usual assortment of proven Brazilians and East Europeans that fill Bundesliga rosters.

So Stuttgart has been forced to start six players from its youth team, making it the most inexperienced lineup in the league.

"The important thing for us was to survive the season -- somehow," coach Felix Magath said. "Everybody saw us as dropping to the second division. That inspired the team and brought us together."

No one on the club -- or in the Bundesliga -- dreamed the team could produce this kind of breakthrough season. With five rounds to play, Stuttgart holds second in the standings, good enough for a Champions League berth.

"I think we've surprised everyone, even ourselves," forward Kevin Kuranyi said.

Kuranyi is one of four 21-year-olds that lead the club. At least three are projected to have the stuff for major stardom.

The Brazilian-raised Kuranyi is regarded as one of Germany's biggest forward talents in years. At midfield, Alexander Hleb of Belarus is a whirlwind of ideas and Andreas Hinckel is on his way to becoming a first-rate defender.

The fourth 21-year-old, Greek international Ioannis Amanatidis, is a forward having a good season although he's less touted than his teammates.

But the fast success worries Stuttgart's management sometimes, since it knows Kuranyi and Hleb are the kinds of talent usually snapped up by Europe's top clubs.

"We're going to have to play for the Bundesliga title soon or we can't keep these players," Magath said. "We will have to offer them some perspective, something like the Champions League."

Stuttgart's climb began before the season as it worked its way through the Intertoto Cup, a backdoor way of qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

As Stuttgart reached the fourth round of the UEFA Cup before bowing to Glasgow Celtic, its confidence grew by the week. That fueled the best record in the Bundesliga since the winter break, along with Hertha Berlin.

"We're just at the start," said Kuranyi, among the Bundesliga leaders with 13 goals. "If we learn some more, we'll get a lot better."

Ottmar Hitzfeld, coach of Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich, believes Stuttgart is already ripe for the Champions League if the team qualifies.

"They will be able to handle it," Hitzfeld said. "They're our strongest competition -- they're the team we have to watch out for."

Magath, a former German great, is given the credit for forming the team. He said that Kuranyi and Hleb have a tendency to get wild, but he relies on the steady influence of a handful of veterans on the team.

"These days you can't do it as a coach alone," he said.

Balakov, a 37-year-old midfielder, has been his biggest help, grooming Hleb to replace him as playmaker when he becomes assistant coach next year. He commands great respect, having starred on Bulgaria's 1994 World Cup semifinal team.

Magath came to Stuttgart two years ago with a reputation for ruthless discipline that earned him the nickname "Qualix," a play on the word torture, by players and coaches alike.

But the coach, fond of chess playing, has learned to stop driving his young players all the time. They swear he is the perfect coach for them.

"I still believe in my methods, that players will only bring top performances under pressure," he said. "But I've learned to overcome myself, get things done with less pressure."

Maybe so, but the marine-like drills may be one reason his team has played 47 matches this season -- more than any rival -- and still has the legs to run past opponents.

With each win, the team is getting hotter in Stuttgart, a wealthy south German city where Mercedes is produced. The place is usually described as staid.

During a recent practice, more than 100 fans lined the fences to watch, far more than most Bundesliga clubs draw. Afterward, the team's stars were stopped a dozen time for photographs during the 100-yard (meter) stretch from training field to clubhouse.

"I'm happy they have so much pleasure from us -- it's a joy to me," said Kuranyi, obviously relishing the adoration.

Stuttgart's players may be enjoying the success, but youth and exuberance usually have a downside, inexperience.

That was evident last week when the club stumbled, losing 3-1 to Bochum, a club threatened by demotion.

Stuttgart dominated and held a 1-0 lead on a Kuranyi score until goalkeeper Thomas Ernst decided to dribble after Hinckel passed back to him. He got stripped, Bochum scored easily and the match swung.

"That was an unnecessary loss, but maybe we can only learn by making every mistake firsthand," sighed Magath. "In the end we want to stand at the very top, but its a long ways to there."

 

Related information

Stories

Germany: World Cup dirty tricks charges rejected

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video

Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.