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GERMANY produced one of the most amazing World Cup escape acts yesterday to snatch a draw. Written off by many as too old to be genuine contenders for glory at France 98, they showed that they are still one of the most difficult sides in the game to beat.
The Eastern Europeans looked to have wrapped up a place in the second round after Dejan Stankovic gave them a shock 13th minute lead that 33-year-old skipper Dragan Stojkovic doubled ten minutes into the second half. But Berti Vogts' team of unflappable veterans rolled up their sleeves and slowly started to get back into it, although they needed a stroke of luck that came in the 73rd minute. Michael Thanat tried his luck with a 30-yard free-kick, Sinisa Mihajlovic - Yugoslavia's goalscorer from their opening game against Iran - stuck out his right leg to clear and deflected the ball off his knee beyond Ivica Kralj. Then six minutes later, Oliver Bierhoff rose unmarked between two defenders eight yards out to head in from a corner.
Slobodan Santrac's side had dominated the early stages and looked certain to beat Germany for the first time in 25 years as Vogts' team looked old and edgy in stifling mid-afternoon heat. But the introduction of warhorse Lothar Matthaus at the start of the second period turned the game and, in the process, broke two World Cup records. The Bayern Munich veteran became only the second man to appear in five World Cup finals and broke the record of World Cup appearances with his 22nd game in the finals. But there was bad news for Germany when striker Tottenham Jurgen Klinsmann was carried off the pitch late on after being winded by a Mihajlovic free-kick.
Yugoslavia thoroughly deserved to go in front, but there was confusion over who actually scored. Predrag Mijatovic, whose goal won the Champions League for Real Madrid last month, shot speculatively from 20 yards but a run across Andreas Kopke by Dejan Stankovic distracted the goalkeeper and the ball seemed to skim off his arm and over the line as defender Jens Jeremies tried desperately to hack it off the line. The statisticians gave Stankovic the goal, but even TV replays couldn't clear up whether or not he had got a touch.
The industrious Stojkovic was at the heart of his country's free-flowing early play, and the Grampus Eight midfielder could have opened the scoring as early as the fifth minute when he lashed a shot in from 18 yards that left Kopke helpless but went inches past the post. The goal came soon after, and seemed to rattle Germany, Jorg Heinrich's seventh minute header wide from a Christian Ziege corner and an Andreas Moeller free-kick that skimmed the bar their only real threats on Kralj's goal.
Zeljko Petrovic should have added a second in the 28th minute. Making space for himself on the edge of the area, he unleashed a powerful drive that Kopke had to go full length to palm away. Kopke had to be on his toes again five minutes later, denying Darko Kovakevic after a nifty lob by Stankovic caught the back four napping. Four minutes from the break, the Marseille goalkeeper parried a rasping Jugovic 20-yard half-volley.
Vogts sent on Matthaus in place of Dietmar Hamann to try and plug the huge holes that were being torn in Germany's midfield, but the Yugoslavs were further ahead in the 54th minute after a howler by Kopke. Kovacevic cracked a hard, low cross into the six-yard box from the right, the German went down to collect it, but the ball squeezed under his body to the waiting Stojkovic, who gleefully tucked the ball into an empty net.
THE MATCH STATS
Germany (0) 2 Yugoslavia (1) 2
Germany: Kopke (5), Woerns (6), Kohler (6), Thon (6), Heinrich (6), Moeller (5) (Kirsten (5) 58), Jeremies (6), Hamann (6) (Matthaus (6) 45), Ziege (6) (Tarnat (7) 67), Klinsmann (6), Bierhoff (7)
Subs Not Used: Kahn, Lehmann, Helmer, Babbel, Reuter, Haessler, Freund, Marschall
Booked: Matthaus
Goals: Mihajlovic 73 og, Bierhoff 80
Yugoslavia: Kralj (6), Mihajlovic (7), Komljenovic (6), Petrovic (6) (Stevic (6) 74), Djorovic (6), Jokanovic (6), Stojkovic (7), Stankovic (7) (Govedarica (6) 68), Jugovic (7), Kovacevic (6) (Ognjenovic (6) 58), Mijatovic (6)
Subs Not Used: Lekovic, Saveljic, Brnovic, Drulovic, Milosevic
Goals: Stankovic 13, Stojkovic 54
Att: 40,775 (crowd rating: 6)
Ref: K Nielsen (Denmark) 7
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VOGTS DEMANDS MORE
FROM HIS VETERANS
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GERMANY coach Berti Vogts admits he was livid after watching Yugoslavia march into a 2-0 lead yesterday afternoon. Forced to ring the changes because his ageing side were torn apart time and again in the first hour, Vogts brought on veteran Lothar Matthaus for a record-breaking 22nd World Cup finals match and defender Michael Tarnat in midfield.
We were down and out, he admitted, but in the final 25 minutes we showed we were able to transform a defeat into virtually a victory. For around 60 or 65 minutes, I was very angry with the players. Some of them didn't seem to be aware that we are at the World Cup. It was only by making a few adjustments that we managed to achieve what had seemed impossible.
I must compliment the Yugoslav players, Vogts added, although at the end they tried to slow it down to walking pace and didn't try to get the third goal. They were severely punished for that. We want to finish top of this group and from tomorrow we'll make damn sure we set about achieving that end.
The two nations are now tied for first place at the top of Group F, although Germany have the inside track because of better goal difference. Matthaus, who captained the Germans to their Italia 90 triumph, joked his record-breaking appearance was nothing special. But then confessed: Actually I'm quite proud. His latest cap allowed him to beat the record of 21 World Cup appearances held by compatriot Uwe Seeler, Poland's Wladyslaw Zmuda and Diego Maradona of Argentina. He also became the second player to have competed in five finals alongside Mexico goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal, who played 11 games from 1950-1966. Matthaus added: ''I'm having as much fun as I ever did. I feel as if I've never been away.
Matthaus was quick to praise his team for their brave comeback. Given that we were two goals down, 2-2 is a really good result for us, he said. And the way we fought back shows there are no problems with squad morale. I'm proud of the way we turned it around.
Yugoslav coach Slobodan Santrac couldn't hide his disappointment. I'm happy and sad. It was a good result, but it was a pity they managed to equalise right at the end, he said. We know the Germans well and we knew they wouldn't lie down until the final whistle, even when they were 2-0 down. The own-goal gave them a chance to get back in it and they took it.
German captain Jurgen Klinsmann was knocked out and carried unconscious from the pitch as his team fought back to snatch a draw in Lens. The veteran striker had the ball smashed into his chest as he stood in the defensive wall at a free-kick. Klinsmann came round after being stretchered off and said: I got hit in the liver and didn't know where I was.
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News 6 
