Match Number: 673 Date: 06.02.1999 Location: Jacksonville (USA) Competition: Friendly USA: Meola Fraser, Brown, Agoos Sanneh, Reyna, Armas, Lewis (77. Hejduk) Kirovski (86. Moore) Jones (86. Lassiter), McBride GERMANY: Kahn Matthäus Babbel, Rehmer Ricken, Jeremies, Ramelow (46. Nerlinger), Zickler (46. Bode) A. Möller Preetz, Marschall Attendance: 20,000 Scoring: 1:0 Kirovski (16.) 2:0 Sanneh (24.) 3:0 Reyna (26.) Ref: Alcala (Mexico) Yellow cards: Sanneh, Armas, ZicklerAfter the poor 1998 finish, the new year was supposed to put things back in order. What happened in this first match of 1999 was precursor to one of the darkest campaigns in recent memory. This match was certainly one of the most disgraceful defeats in German history. Never in history had a German squad played so thoroughly crap and been dominated by a mediocre opponent. The German press certainly thought so, "OH MY GOD! NOW WE EVEN LOSE AGAINST THE AMERICANS! POOR GERMANY!"
The Americans pretty much controlled the game from the start, not bothered by the hot weather. An early goal by Kirovski was a bit of a surprise, but then Sanneh's goal and the coup-de-grace by Reyna left them totally shellshocked. In fact Reyna's goal was the most laughable, as all he had to do was tap into an empty net. The only "consolation" that the German press could find is that all three Americans "played in Germany."
From the American standpoint, Claudio Reyna (soon to move to Glasgow Rangers) pulled the strings in midfield, and Chris Armas provided the muscle. That players like Sanneh and Kirovski ran circles around their German counterparts shows how low the Germans had fallen. In fact, if the Americans had even one half-competant striker, they could have easily scored 6-7 goals.
Virtually all the German players totally disgraced themselves. If they were Japanese, they would have undoubtedly been shamed into committing hara-kiri to at least salvage a bit of honor. Perhaps Michael Preetz was the only player who gave any effort, as he had a few decent shots. Veteran Lothar Matthaeus looked like a clown out there, barking orders that everybody ignored. The German defenders and midfielders had lead in their boots as the Americans ran around them without effort. Designated thug Jens Jeremies got his ass kicked by Armas in the tough guy struggle. "Upcoming star" Lars Ricken continued crap performances. Ramelow and Bode were so crap that they got yanked at half-time. Oliver Kahn was OK in goal, but he probably wished he was having root-canal surgery instead.
Certainly belaugered coach Berti Vogts had a lot of explaining to do.