Lehmann at last - keeper ready for No. 1 job

By Barry Whelan Jun 8, 2006, 13:53 GMT

German head coach Juergen Klinsmann (R) jokes with Germany\'s first-choice goalkeeper Jens Lehmann at the practice session in Berlin, Tuesday, 06 June 2006. The German World Cup Team prepares in Berlin for the first group match against Costa Rica. EPA/OLIVER BERG

Berlin - For a long time it was the talking point of the football nation: Oliver Kahn or Jens Lehmann in goal for Germany?

Then on April 7 - and earlier than planned - coach Juergen Klinsmann surprised many experts in the country by choosing Lehmann, so long the understudy, over Kahn, the apparently invincible.

As a result Lehmann, who will be 37 in November, will make his premiere at a major tournament on Friday in Munich when hosts Germany begin their World Cup mission against Group A opponents Costa Rica.

It has been a long time coming for Lehmann, once of Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan and Schalke 04, and now guarding the net in London for Premier League side Arsenal.

He has spent four major tournaments on the substitutes' bench for Germany. He was number 3 at the 1998 World Cup, and number 2 to Kahn at the 2002 World Cup finals and 2000 and 2004 European Championships.

What better place then than Munich to wear the coveted No. 1 jersey, home ground of Bayern Munich and Kahn. Not so long ago Lehmann was complaining about a Bayern lobby working against him. He was roundly jeered by the Munich crowd in the Allianz Arena the last time he played there for Germany.

He doesn't expect a repeat of that. Not only has an outstanding season for Arsenal been recognised by German supporters, the crowd on Friday will be coming from all four corners of the country, Lehmann pointed out.

'The team has been experiencing terrific enthusiasm from the German public and I doubt whether a few Munich fans will spoil the support we've been getting,' he said in Berlin before the squad left for Munich.

Lehmann plays down the fact that Friday's encounter is both the World Cup opener and his debut at a major championships. Neither has he dwelled on the anguish of being only a spectator at previous tournaments.

'I am in a phase where I am focusing fully on Friday's game and haven't time to waste on the past and how things were at previous tournaments. It would only be a distraction,' he said.

'It is a very important game like many others as well. As a player you think more about whether everything will go off well and whether you have prepared well. You can think about the significance of it afterwards, but not now.'

Neither does Lehmann wish to be reminded of the duel, at times acrimonious, with Kahn. The subject is 'no longer topical', he said.

The only thing that counts now is a win over Costa Rica, says the keeper.

'I'm not really conscious of the fact that it is an opening match. I am concentrating solely on what the game means to the outcome of the group, and that with a win we can take a big step towards progressing.

'The fact that it is the opening game of a World Cup and is also our first game is for me personally not so important.'

One thing Lehmann promises: he will be careful about any excursions outside the penalty area. Although his ability to read oncoming danger and deal with it quickly is one of his strengths, the memory of the red card in the Champions League final lingers.

On that occasion he was punished for a rash challenge against Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o just outside the box. On Friday, in a 3-0 friendly international win against Colombia, Lehmann was left red-faced after losing the ball outside the area. The resultant lob by his Colombian opponent only narrowly missed the target.

'That was careless of me. We were 3-0 up and I perhaps lost a bit of concentration against opponents who weren't very strong. That won't happen again,' he vowed.

Lehmann goes into the World Cup as the second oldest Germany goalkeeper wearing the number one shirt in the tournament's history. He is only a couple of months younger than Andreas Koepke - now the goalkeeping coach for Germany - was at the 1998 World Cup. Toni Turek, World Cup winner in 1954, was 35 and Sepp Maeir 34 in 1978.

But it is Kahn, who will be 37 on June 15, who is now the oldest keeper ever to have been selected in a German World Cup squad. Together, Lehmann and Kahn add up to nearly 74 years - making them the oldest goalkeeping duo in German World Cup history.