SOCCER:THEIR DEFEAT of Turkey in the semi-final might have been less than convincing, but Germany's preparations for tomorrow's European Championship decider at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna had been progressing nicely until Christoph Metzelder came over all honest at the squad's last press conference in Tenero yesterday.
He and team manager Oliver Bierhoff had embarked on a fun-filled reflection with the press upon the Alpine tour theme dreamt up by the German Federation for this Euro adventure.
The whole idea had caused a fair bit of mirth when it was unveiled back at home a few weeks ago, but around their base camp yesterday it was mountain metaphor central with both sides merrily playing up the "one summit left to scale" stuff.
The 27-year-old was then asked directly about the team's prospects against the Spanish tomorrow night and, to the horror of Bierhoff one presumes, promptly embarked upon one of the game's great offerings of a hostage to fortune. "I think they have a bit of a complex about these tournaments," said Metzelder, whose performance in the semi-final, as it happens, might well have been interpreted (especially around here) as showing some deep-seated aversion to featuring in tomorrow's game.
"It has taken them decades just to get beyond the quarter-finals," he continued nevertheless. "I know they have respect for us and that will be in the back of their minds when we play on Sunday. They are an excellent side but this is a big game and big games have their own rules."
There may be a grain or more of truth in the Real Madrid defender's words but football, like life, has a habit of biting the backsides of those who express levels of confidence beyond what would be generally accepted to fall within the bounds of common courtesy. Away from the press conference, Joachim Loew suggested yesterday the pressure is off his men now they have reached the final and the German coach must be pleased that, having started tournament as the bookmakers' favourites, they go into the final as marginal outsiders. But the very tradition of success Metzelder feels might intimidate the Spanish ensures the Germans will be far from free of the burden of expectation.
And their opponents can at least point to the fact now, regardless of what happens tomorrow evening, they have avoided their traditional quarter-final exit, eliminated a couple of decent sides and reached a major championship final for only the third time ever.
Clearly, however, Metzelder may have a point when he suggests they might suffer from the fear that the chance to win a second title may not come around again for quite some time. It probably just would have been better if he hadn't said it, that's all.
Whoever wins in the end tomorrow's final has, after a tournament that has thrown up more than its fair share of memorable matches, the potential to be a little bit special. The form of both teams has been erratic over the past few weeks but if Germany can emulate their performance against Portugal and Spain play the way they did in either of the wins over Russia we could be in for a treat.
The tactics adopted will play an important part and the likelihood is that the game will be decided in a densely packed midfield area where the respective coaches will employ starkly contrasting styles.
At training yesterday morning, there was some suggestion that David Villa may yet be fit enough to play despite straining a muscle while taking a free early on against Russia.
The tournament top scorer looks likely to miss out, however, and Spanish coach Luis Aragones is expected to change his formation in order to reward Cesc Fabregas for his outstanding performances to date with a place in the starting line-up.
The Germans, meanwhile, are set to play five across the middle, too, with Torsten Frings in line to replace Simon Rolfes after further recovering from the fractured rib sustained against Austria nearly two weeks ago.
Loew and his men got things impressively right when deciding how best to beat the Portuguese, but the German coach insists the greater fluidity of the Spanish midfield will make the challenge this time around significantly harder to overcome.
Clearly, the Spanish need to avoid becoming bogged down in midfield battle for if Fernando Torres is to play up front by himself he will need a good deal of support if a German defence, which looked shaky last time out, is to be seriously stretched again.
There were doubts, of course, about this Spanish defence, too, before the tournament got under way and they will be tested here by a German side that can be devastating on the counter attack, but so far they have held up fairly well and in Iker Casillas they have had the competition's most consistently impressive goalkeeper.
Central to Germany's hopes and their game plan is Michael Ballack and it would be sad if a player of the Chelsea midfielder's quality was to suffer a repeat of his nightmare of 2002 when, with Bayer Leverkusen, he finished the season as a runner-up in the league, cup and Champions League before heading to Japan where the Germans finished second.
But the Spanish have had plenty of heartache on the game's biggest stages, too, and after Metzelder's comments yesterday, it's harder than ever to avoid the feeling that 44 years after they last won this trophy, their day might have come again.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
GERMANY (4-5-1):Lehmann; Friedrich, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Lahm; Schweinsteiger, Hitzlsperger, Ballack, Frings, Podolsky; Klose.
SPAIN (4-5-1):Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila; Silva, Fabregas, Senna, Xavi, Iniesta; Torres.
Referee:R Rosetti (Italy).
Venue:Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna
Kick-off:Tomorrow, 7.45
On TV:RTÉ Two, BBC 1
