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Group F - Germany-Yugoslavia, Germany rallies for draw |
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Oliver Bierhoff saved Germany on Sunday with a header 11 minutes from time in an exciting 2-2 draw with Yugoslavia in their World Cup Group F clash.
"The team was on its knees but in the last 25 minutes we showed how you can make almost a victory out of a defeat," said German coach Berti Vogts after his side scored twice in the space of six minutes to come from 2-0 down to salvage a point.
"We made the possible out of the impossible."
The result left both sides level on four points and fighting for supremacy in the group.
Before the comeback, it had looked like Germany's most memorable contribution would come from Lothar Matthaeus, making World Cup history by playing in his fifth World Cup and notching up a record 22nd match in finals.
German fans turned out in force, and 30 who hurled tables and chairs at police in the town center were arrested before and following a match that always had the potential as a catalyst for hooliganism.
Inside the stadium, it looked as if the crowd was about to witness Germany's first opening round defeat since 1986 and its first loss to Yugoslavia in 25 years.
The Yugoslavs were 2-0 up and dominant by the 54th minute and could still have considered themselves unlucky.
Neither team wants to go through to the second round as runners-up, with a probable date with the Dutch, but for much of the match the Germans looked like losers.
Then, in the 74th minute, the match turned.
Substitute Michael Tarnat, who had only been on the pitch for seven minutes, lashed in a free kick that took a deflection off Sinisa Mihajlovic into the net.
Minutes later, Bierhoff completed the comeback, heading home from a corner kick.
"We wanted to reach the second round and after this 2-2 draw we've got a great chance of doing it," Vogts said.
For Yugoslavia, back after six years in the soccer wilderness, it was as much a case of giving the game away as Germany seizing it.
"I feel sad and happy at the same time," coach Slobodan Santrac said. "It was a very good result but we knew the Germans would try to keep playing until the end and they took the opportunities."
Attacking prodigy Dejan Stankovic, 19, claimed the opening goal in the 13th minute but that was open to considerable debate.
Although FIFA agreed with the youngster, television replays suggested he had not touched the ball.
The cross was provided by Predrag Mijatovic, the ball hitting goalkeeper Andy Koepke on the leg and spinning toward the goal. It bounced off the post and on to the chest of Jens Jeremies, who may already have been over the line.
The second was far more clearcut.
Darko Kovacevic banged a shot in from the right wing, Koepke failed to hold the ball and Dragan Stojkovic was there to pounce from close range with an empty net beckoning.
Matthaeus came on at halftime to loud cheers and suddenly Germany, aging and creaky but still stunningly effective, was back in business as at every World Cup. The arrival of Tarnat in the 67th minute provided more freshness.
The German euphoria was only dimmed at the end when captain Juergen Klinsmann went off on a stretcher. He said later that he had been winded by a blow in the solar plexus.
There was just one booking in a game played on FIFA's Fair Play Day, and that was for Matthaeus in the 77th.
As at the other two venues on Sunday, both teams had posed together for a group photograph before the match.
