Klinsi's Boys Belittled in Bratislava

The heady days of the Confederations Cup in June have turned into an early autumn hangover for the German national squad. A lucky 2-2 draw against Holland on Aug. 17 gave way to an embarrassing 2-0 defeat against Slovakia. As has been the case over the course of Jürgen Klinsmann's reign as coach, a porous defense proved to be the downfall.

The offense, unlike the exciting matches at the Cup in June, proved to be non-existent. Germany's playmaker Michael Ballack offered what was probably one of his poorest matches as an international midfielder.

"When he plays poorly, then the team has no one to turn to," was the sober assessment of former World Cup championship coach and player turned television analyst, Franz Beckenbauer.

Bundesliga talent scores double

Miroslav Karhan, who plays in the Bundesliga with VfL Wolfsburg, scored both goals, converting a penalty in the 20th minute and chipping over keeper Jens Lehmann for the second seven minutes before the break.

With only six more friendly matches before the World Cup starts on June 9, Klinsmann has a true crisis on his hands as the various combinations he has tested in the backfield are proving to be incapable of the high demands of world soccer.

"I'm very disappointed with the first half," said Klinsmann. "We made costly individual mistakes and were slow to recover when we lost the ball. We've got a lot to work on."

Germany have conceded 10 goals in their last four games, 15 in their last seven, and have kept clean sheets in just two matches in 2005, against Tunisia and Slovenia.

Slovakia gets boost

The victory for Slovakia provided a welcome boost ahead of their trip to face Latvia on Wednesday, a match they must win to stay in the hunt for a World Cup place. Slovakia are in second place in Group Three behind Portugal and ahead of Russia.

For Germany coach Jürgen Klinsmann, the match will have raised further concerns over a defense that has been leaking goals since the Confederations Cup. After a promising start for Germany, the hosts turned the game around and then dominated the first half. Slovakia's midfielder and goalscoring king last season at Nuremberg, Marek Mintal, came close to putting his side on top when he flashed a shot just wide in the 13th minute after the ball had fallen to him at a corner.

The pressure on the German defense continued until Per Mertesacker cracked when he needlessly held on to Robert Vittek to give away the penalty.

An at times very insecure-looking Slovakian goalkeeper Kamil Contofalsky was challenged on numerous occasions but the necessary bit of luck or smart play was missing at key moments.

The second strike came in the 38th minute when Mintal hooked over a cross from wide on the left and Karhan calmly lifted the ball over Lehmann, who did little to back up his claim this week that he deserved to play in the World Cup ahead of Oliver Kahn.

The debut performances of Marcell Jansen and Lukas Sinkiewicz were less than memorable as they worked their ways slowly into the squad after entering the game in the second half. The last 45 minutes were generally better, with energetic Confed Cup stars Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger creating chances that still ended in a goose egg.

Six hurt in hooligan violence

The sparsely-visited match still managed to attract hooligans who battled with police in the German stands. Six people were hurt, one seriously, according to German Soccer Association press spokesman Harald Stenger.

During the match, the hooligans who presumably received tickets from Slovakian acquaintances made their presence felt during the match, shouting "We all have stadium bans," and "Otto, we're here anyway," in reference to German Interior Minister Otto Schily, who was in attendance and whose ministry is in charge of security at next year's World Cup.