German football greats blitz Phl

MANILA, Philippines - German football greats flaunted flashes of the first-rate skills that put them on top of the world during their heydays, unleashing a blitzkrieg on their hapless Philippine counterparts, 13-0, in a legends match Saturday at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Forty-two-year-old Fredi Bobic, who won a European title with Germany in 1996, bombarded the Filipinos with a whopping eight goals as the German All-Stars asserted their might in the 80-minute friendly.

Marco Reich, one of the youngest at 36, struck for a hat-trick while Martin Driller scored off a free kick and German-born American Thomas Dooley, the current coach of the Philippine Azkals, headed one in to complete scoring for the Germans.

“The game manifested the gap between a World Cup champion team and a small footballing country like the Philippines,” said Phl coach Aris Caslib, who used all 26 players in the exhibition game against 15-man Germany.

“The most important thing for us is to get a picture of modern football and for Filipinos to keep a link with German football so we can always have a model and at the same time (an) exchange of technical expertise as occurring from time to time,” added Caslib.

Bobic opened the floodgates with a three-string inside the first 18 minutes. Reich then scored a double sandwiching Bobic’s fourth goal as the Germans stormed to a 7-nil tear at halftime.

“This Legends team plays a lot but always with different players. But all the players are experienced enough to know their job on the field,” said German All Stars coach Eckhard Krautzun.

“We gave a good demonstration on why Germany are world champions,” he added.

The Germans, who were skippered by 1990 World Cup champion Guido Buchwald, showed the overmatched Pinoys how to do it: not much of dribbling but more of making short, quick passes and intelligent movement off the ball.

“They played simple football. Even if they played with eyes closed they know that if they made the pass someone would receive it,” noted Phl skipper Rosell.

The friendly match, which served as part of the celebrations of 60 years of diplomatic relations between Phl and Germany, was filled with sentimentality.

Members of the Phl team that upstaged Malaysia, 1-0, in the 1991 Southeast Asian Games – Herson Salmon, Rudy Del Rosario, Jesus Baron, Marlon Piñero, Norman Fegidero, Filamer Rosell, Alfredo Dioso, and Melo Sabacan – reunited at the new artificial turf of Rizal and played against their old coach Krautzun.

Among those who watched the nostalgic match were German ambassador to the Philippines Thomas Ossowski, PFF president Nonong Araneta, general-secretary Edwin Gastanes, and German Football Association (DFB) vice president Hans-Georg Moldenhauer.