Phew! - A Relief Win for German Soccer

It started out as a somber tie (1-1) on Saturday in Kiev and ended up as a fanfare on Wednesday night in Dortmund. By beating the Ukraine in a surprising show of strength, the German team escaped the unthinkable - not participating in the World Cup.

"I just can't imagine what would have happened if we had not qualified, but thank God all those worries are behind us now," former World Cup coach Franz Beckenbauer said after witnessing the unbelievable match.

The three-time world champions looked in real danger of not appearing for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1950. They had lost out on their chance of an automatic qualification earlier in the season and came home with only a tie in the first leg of the game against the Ukraine. But on Wednesday they wasted no time shaking off the prospect of failure.

Strong start

After less than 15 minutes, both fans and the team knew the Germans couldn't be stopped. They put on such an impressive display of rapid striking skill, the fans hardly had time to catch their breath between cheers of "goal, goal!"

Midfielder Michael Ballack started out the victory parade with a cross from Bernd Schneider just four minutes into the game.

In rapid succession, the Germans kept pushing forward. Oliver Neuville tried and then scored again after a header from Marko Rehmer was punched out by Ukraine goalie Maxim Levitsky. Two goals within 11 minutes.

Rehmer put all questions of a tie to rest in the 15th minute with a head goal off a corner kick.

The game ticked on and the Germans kept hammering the Ukrainians with strong shots from Neuville and Carsten Jancker.

They came close to scoring but it wasn't until the second half that the game reached its high score - 4:0 - with a header from Ballack. Six minutes into the second half and the stadium had proclaimed the winner.

Only in the dying moments did the Ukrainians manage to muster up strength and send in Andriy Shevchenko for a goal.

Good Recovery

Coach Rudi Völler, who only narrowly missed being the first coach to guide a team to the World Cup was obviously elated on Wednesday.

"When you think of what happened over the past eight or nine weeks you can imagine how relieved I am," he said.

The 52,000 screaming fans packed into Dortmund's stadium could hardly be mistaken for the same group who were so adamantly pessimistic about a German victory just a few days ago. In their eyes, the national players had rehabilitated themselves and were deserving of praise.