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Out of action Bierhoff injures calf, will miss England match
Posted: Wednesday June 14, 2000 02:58 PM
VAALS, Netherlands (AP) -- German captain and striker Oliver Bierhoff limped off a chaotic practice session Wednesday with a calf muscle injury and will miss the defending champion's vital Saturday game against England. "He will not play Saturday," said coach Erich Ribbeck. "I still can't give a 100-percent diagnosis but it looks like a muscle fiber tear and that means he'll be out for seven days." That would also rule out Bierhoff for the last Group A game against Portugal. "I felt a hit on my calf while I was standing up," Bierhoff said. "It felt as if someone had thrown a stone at me." Bierhoff suffered the right-calf injury without being tackled by another player. The 32-year-old captain limped heavily, his right calf taped massively, as he was driven back to the team hotel in the Netherlands. "It's impossible, I never saw anything like this," Bierhoff said. The team traveled just across the border to a suburb of the German city of Aachen to hold a public practice session in the hometown of the German soccer federation chairman Egidius Braun. The practice in Breining came at the insistence of Braun, but it ended up angering many players. "This is like a fair, but we like doing it for our president, it's not like we have an important game on Saturday," said defender Markus Babbel in an ironic comment. The team bus was first stuck in traffic, then hundreds of kids and other fans stormed the field. The players had to sign autographs instead of practice. It took officials 20 minutes to clear the field. About 8,000 people had turned out to see the team. Coach Ribbeck broke off the session after 55 minutes. "We did not expect so many fans," he said. Surrounded by dozens off fans, it took team officials about 20 minutes to get Bierhoff into a car to take him back to the headquarters. The absence of Bierhoff will be a big blow to Germany, which is already shaken after its 1-1 draw with Romania. Bierhoff scored the golden goal that gave Germany the European title over the Czech Republic with a 2-1 victory in the final four years ago at Wembley. The circumstances of the practice session are also sure to raise tensions in the team, which is being pulled apart by a discussion on the future of Lothar Matthäus. Many players reportedly want the 39-year-old libero to be dropped from the starting lineup.
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