Germany - Lithuania 1:1 (1:0)



Match Number:	728
Date:		29.03.2003
Location:	Nuernberg
Competition:	European Championship Qualifier


GERMANY: 
Kahn
A. Friedrich, Wörns, Rau (82. Freier)
Frings, Ramelow, B. Schneider, Hamann, Böhme (46. Rehmer)
Bobic (72. Kuranyi), Klose
Coach: Voeller

LITHUANIA:
Stauce
Semberas, Zvirgzdauskas, Dedura, Barasa
Morinas, Petrenko (87. Dziaukstas), Pukelevicius (46. Maciulevicius), 
Mikalajunas
Razanauskas
Jankauskas (90. Fomenko)


Scoring:
1:0 Ramelow (8.)
1:1 Razanauskas (73.)
 
Referee: Victor Jose Esquinas Torres (Spain)
Yellow cards: Rau, Boehme - Petrenko, Morinas, Maciulevicius

Attendance: 40,754

Another misfire by Rudi Voeller's team, as they struggled against the Baltic dwarf. Displays like this make you wonder how on earth they made it to the World Cup final.

Germany came out strong and pressured the Lithuanians, who relied on a sharp keeper Stauce to prevent a debacle. As it was early attacking led to a quick goal, as Ramelow's backheel flipped the shot/cross from Schneider into the net. A couple of minutes later, both Klose and Frings had disgraceful misses, that could have applied the knockout. The squad let up and went into the half with the comfortable 1-0 lead.

After some trouble getting restarted, the Germans continued to pressure the Lithuania's but poor finishing and a sharp Stauce prevented further goals. As usual, you get punished for waste, and Razanauskas snuck through the German defense and blasted by Kahn. This woke the Germans up, and they attacked furiously, and almost opened themselves up to a loss with a conter attack. As it was, they were unable to score, and once again give up a disgraceful home result.


Abseits Guide to German Soccer: www.abseits-soccer.com