German machine rolls over Argentina

25/02/2002

ARGENTINA shocked favourites Germany with an early goal yesterday, but
when the final whistle blew coach Jorge Ruiz and his men walked out red
faced and were at a loss for words after Germany staged a comeback to win
5-2.
After watching Germany, in their first match, Berhnard Peters' men look
like they have got it made in the World Cup and nothing is going to stop
their quest of winning the first World Cup title.
Santiago Capurro sounded the board off a solo attempt in the 16th minute
after the Argentines took full control of the first quarter of the game.
But Germany made a strong comeback and in the 25th minute, Christoph
Bechmann made a run to the goalline and made a pass to the top of the
semicircle, off a melee, the ball was returned to him and he pushed in a
cheeky goal for the equaliser.
That was the start of the German machine and they looked unstoppable
with precision passing and total control of the match.
In the 25th minute, Timo Wess snatched the lead off a clever Florian
Kunz dummy. Germany won their third penalty corner and looked desperate as
Kunz's earlier attempts were palmed away by Argentina goalkeeper Pablo
Moreira.
Kunz's direct push were well anticipated and the Germans knew that they
had to change their technique. So when they won their third penalty
corner, Kunz made a dummy by raising his stick to flick in but the stopper
pushed the ball to Wess who had a wide free angle to push in the second
goal.
Jorge Lombi was a disappointing figure and his penalty corners were not
effective at all. Before the match, Lombi said that they have planned a
surprise for the Germans but in the end, they were the ones who were
surprised.
Christian Wein, Bjorn Michael and Matthias Witthaus added to Argentina's
misery with beautiful goals and the only consolation for Argentina was
when Mario Almada scored in the 55th minute but by then, the match was all
over for the Argies who went into the dressing room with their heads hung
low.
"We lost our composure for the first 15 minutes of the match but I am
glad that we made a strong comeback and are still in the hunt," said a
modest German coach Peters.
Peters blamed the soft pitch for their poor conversion in penalty
corners.
"Florian (Kunz) found the new turf too soft for his usual style and that
was why he was struggling. But we have found out ways to counter that and
it should not face any problems in our next match," said Peters.
Jorge Ruiz said it is not fair to place Germany and Argentina in the
same league and the defeat is not a big surprise for him.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
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