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Shocker for Germany in warm up
The Germans and Dutch have one solace after such an awful weekend ahead of the European Championship -- it can only get better.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:04 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Lisbon:
The Germans and Dutch have one solace after such an awful weekend ahead of the European Championship -- it can only get better. Meanwhile, France midfielder Zinedine Zidane proved again he could turn a lackluster game into a winning one. In its final warm up, Germany was humbled 2-0 by Hungary at home on Sunday, producing an effort even worse than the Netherlands' 1-0 loss to Ireland the day before. The result now makes their June 15 Group D opening clash even more unpredictable. Perhaps defending champion France should be happy to have escaped with a late 1-0 win against Ukraine. There were some whistles among the crowd, but they turned to cheers when Zidane capped another vintage performance with a volley goal in the 88th minute, glossing over a lackluster performance by Les Bleus. Looking at the misery of its Group D opponents, the Czech Republic should head to Portugal with a big smile, following a confident 2-0 win over Estonia. Latvia, the fourth team in the group, did not get beyond a 2-2 draw with Azerbaijan. Even victory could not make Switzerland happy, considering the 1-0 win over neighbouring minnow Liechtenstein was only achieved in the final minute. The shocking result against an under strength Hungarian team left Germany coach Rudi Voeller with the right approach. "We have to look ahead now. Warmup games don't count," he said, assessing a loss that spoiled his 50th game in charge of Germany. From now, eyes will center on how teams nurse the last-minute injuries and deal with adapting to conditions in Portugal where temperatures have often soared in the 30 degree celcius over the past days. Nagging injuries are perhaps France's biggest worry. Captain Marcel Desailly was kept from having his farewell match at the Stade de France because of a sore knee, which could affect him over the coming days. Desailly is to retire from the national team after Euro 2004. Striker David Trezeguet sat out yesterday's game with a bad ankle. Russia, Spain and Greece were the first teams to arrive yesterday and Italy, one of the few teams without a warm up game over the past days, is to fly into Lisbon later today. England, fresh off a reinvigorating 6-1 drubbing of Iceland, is to arrive tomorrow. No such hassles for Portugal, which is already in seclusion at their camp close to Lisbon, still enjoying its 4-1 win over Lithuania on Saturday. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
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