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Germany face battle of goalkeepers

With goalkeepers of the calibre of Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann, Germany hardly have a goalkeeping problem. Yet trouble is simmering for team coach Erich Ribbeck as relations between the number one and two between the German posts become icier.

Kahn and Lehmann may share a changing room for the German national side, but they won't be found swapping notes.

Lehmann thinks he is the nation's best goalkeeper, and has not been shy of saying so in public.

That riles Kahn, who after himself waiting a long time in the wings under Andreas Koepke, believes he is the rightful wearer of the national team's number one jersey.

Goalkeepers - along with leftwingers - are crazy, or so they say in German football.

Kahn is said to be as football-crazy as they come, his commitment to the cause, whether for Bayern Munich or Germany, legendary.

He is an obsessive trainer, and on the field he appears at times to be a man possessed. He once attacked one of his own players for not leaving the penalty area quickly enough after a corner, and is not shy of speaking his mind, whether to friend or foe.

Rival fans like to greet him with monkey-like noises.

"In real life Oliver Kahn is a perfectly normal guy, but as soon as the referee blows the whistle he forgets himself and others,'' was how the Sport Bild newspaper described the 30-year-old 'keeper.

Kahn is now injured, and will have to watch his rival in the German goal during the forthcoming Confederations Cup tournament in Mexico.

The self-confident Lehmann believes he is better than Kahn in any case, and is annoyed that the German goalkeeping coach, Sepp Maier, will not be alongside him in Mexico.

Maier, a World Cup winner with Germany in 1974, also happens to be the goalkeeping coach for German champions Bayern Munich - thus for Kahn - and has decided to stay in Munich.

Lehmann took umbrage, in an interview with this week's Kicker sports magazine, saying ''It would have been very important for me'' to have Maier coaching him during the Mexico tournament.

Kahn has responded in a television interview by saying Lehmann ''had not learned much'', adding: ''I told him he can show me on the field and not off of it that he is better.''

Asked whether the 29-year-old Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper could now establish himself as the German number one during the trip, Kahn said: ''To be honest I couldn't care less. I first have to make sure I'm healthy again. Then I can talk about things like that.''

Kahn has the consolation of knowing that Ribbeck still sees him as the first choice.

''I have had a short discussion with Erich Ribbeck and he has told me that I remain the number one, even if I am not in Mexico.''

Maier, meanwhile, has defended his decision to stay in Munich rather than be in Mexico.

''My main duty is to make the number one fit again for the Bundesliga,'' he said.

Maier insists he has ''no problems with Jens Lehmann''.

The main problem was the scheduling and the Confederations Cup tournament itself, which maier describes as ''a joke cup''.

UNI