German FA says sorry to Slovenians
|  Podolski gave the Germans a fortunate win with a 27th minute goal |
| |
CELJE, Slovenia -- The German Football Association (DFB) has apologized to Slovenia after unruly fans smashed windows and tables at a hotel and restaurant before the friendly international in Celje on Saturday.
Alfred Sengle, head of the DFB security, described the behavior of the German fans as disgraceful.
Germany won the game 1-0, Lukas Podolski scoring in the 27th minute.
German officials said 50 Germans were detained by Slovenian police and three people, including two police officers, were injured in clashes in the centre of Celje three hours before the match.
"We can only offer our utmost apology to our Slovenian hosts for what's happened," said Harald Stenger, DFB media director.
"I'm ashamed," he said. "We can only apologize to the Slovenian football association."
Stenger added German and Slovenian authorities had received advance warning of about 200 to 250 "problem cases" of German fans who were in Slovenia for the match.
"Unfortunately we weren't able to keep everything under control," he said.
German officials said considerable damage was done to the Hotel Europa in the centre of Celje. Cars were also damaged and several shop windows in the centre of the city were destroyed.
Little satisfaction
The victory also gave little satisfaction to German coach Juergen Klinsmann.
"Not everything worked out the way we planned," he said.
"It was a very physical match and we weren't able to get into any rhythm. We didn't get enough goal chances and at the end of the day we were a bit lucky to come away with a victory."
Captain Michael Ballack agreed. "We were fortunate to win. The match was chaotic, it wasn't good at all," he said.
" Our defense wasn't well organized and that shouldn't happen. We should have gone ahead 2-0 and then things would have been easier."
Slovenia, third in their World Cup group two points behind leaders Italy and level on seven points with Norway before the Italians hosted Scotland on Saturday, were unfortunate to lose to Germany following an impressive display after the break.
But the Germans were the better side in a scrappy first half and Podolski put them ahead after 27 minutes when he scored from close range after Oliver Neuville's powerful shot from the edge of the area bounced off defender Matej Mavric to set him up.
German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn said: "We played well in the first half but the defense fell apart in the second half," said Kahn. "We gave them three or four 100 percent chances. We've got some things to talk about.
"It's not so hard to get motivated to play against Brazil or Argentina but it's damn hard to play here in Slovenia and get 100 percent motivated. That's what happened to us in the second half and we have to talk about it."
"We've got to concentrate more," added Klinsmann. "It was certainly not one of our better matches. But we nevertheless won. The team worked hard and gave their best.
"Slovenia kept interrupting the flow of our game and it's tough when you're the visiting team to get into your game with so many interruptions."
 |
Story Tools
| |
|
| | |
