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THEY may not be the greatest German side of all time, but the 1998 vintage can certainly count themselves among the most resilient.
Just as they seemed to be heading home, Berti Vogts' side pulled another game out of the fire yesterday to reach the last eight. If playing badly but winning games is the hallmark of a good side, then the Germans deserve their customary place among the elite.
Prior to yesterday, their trip to the quarter-finals had taken in a 2-0 triumph over the USA, a draw with Yugoslavia achieved after being 2-0 behind with 17 minutes remaining and a hugely unconvincing defeat of Iran. They barely improved against Mexico - a plodding performance in the first hour saw them fall behind to a goal from Luis Hernandez just after the break and almost go two down - before striking back through Jurgen Klinsmann and Oliver Bierhoff to set up a highly winnable meeting with either Romania or Croatia.
With the stakes so high, it was hardly surprising that the first 45 minutes were very cagey, with both sides wasting good opportunities to open the scoring. Andreas Kopke spilled a speculative long-range effort from Mexico's Marcelino Bernal on 16 minutes, but perhaps the worst culprit of all was the normally deadly Bierhoff, who sent a close-range header crashing against the bar with the goal at his mercy five minutes before the break. While hopelessly out-of-position goalkeeper Jorge Campos was counting his blessings, his compatriots stormed straight upfield and contrived to miss a great chance of their own. Hernandez put Juan Palencia clean through but he could only shoot straight at Kopke, who cleared with his feet.
Two minutes after the break, the Central Americans broke the deadlock. The lively Hernandez took his tournament tally to four, skipping past challenges from Michael Tarnat and Christian Worns before driving a right foot shot over the advancing goalkeeper. The Mexicans - and the neutrals - celebrated but, knowing Germany's track record, it was hard to escape the feeling that there was plenty more to come from the match.
That feeling grew as Kopke pulled off a fine double-save to deny the Mexicans a clinching second soon after. And the fact that one of those stops saw him palm what looked to be an all-time classic volleyed own goal from teammate Lothar Matthaus onto the post merely increased the sense of foreboding.
True to form, Vogts' men began to increase the pressure. Their efforts were rewarded on 75 minutes when Klinsmann capitalised on a mistake from Raul Lara to hammer home his 47th international goal. That predatory strike made him his country's second highest goalscorer of all-time, only the legendary Gerd Muller has netted more. The comeback was complete ten minutes later, when Bierhoff made amends for his earlier miss by flashing a powerful header into the net after getting in front of the unfortunate Lara.
They may have been far from convincing so far, but Germany once more find themselves in the last eight of the World Cup - as they have done on every occasion since 1954. Who's going to bet against them going all the way?
FOOTBALL365 SAYS�
The cliches come thick and fast when you talk about the Germans, but they are consistently the most dogged and determined of teams. Time after time, they look finished, only to bounce back and win games. And tournaments. Yesterday, they were at it again. Even with Mexico a goal to the good with 15 minutes remaining, you knew in your heart of hearts that Klinsmann and Co would pull it out of the fire - and they did. However, should England meet their old foe at a later stage of France 98, they will never have a better chance of beating them and burying the ghosts of Italia 90 and Euro 96. Results or no results, Germany �98 are a pale shadow of their former selves.
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BIERHOFF'S BASIC INSTINCT
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OLIVER BIERHOFF claims he is becoming the star of Germany's late, late show. The striker's brilliant header sent Germany through to the quarter-finals at the expense of Mexico in Montpellier - and he also scored late in the 2-2 draw against Yugoslavia in the group stages. The AC Milan-bound marksman said: ''It must just be an instinct that I have - I seem to get the late goals. But you must also give credit to Jurgen Klinsmann for the equaliser.'' Bierhoff added: ''Mexico played well but, in the end, we deserved to win - we had many more chances than they did and over the 90 minutes I think we were the better team.''
Luis Hernandez, whose goal had given Mexico hope of an upset, said: ''We tried our very best, our utmost. We are extremely proud of what we have done today against Germany but it was not to be.'' Germany's coach Berti Vogts was guarded in his praise for the team, although he conceded they had put on by far their best performance of the tournament. We are getting better all the time, and we pulled it around, he said. We didn't want to go home just yet.
 TALE OF THE TURF
| Team Name | Germany | Mexico
| | Goals | 2 | 1
| | Shots On Target | 4 | 5
| | Shots Off Target | 8 | 4
| | Blocked Shots | 1 | 3
| | Corners | 1 | 5
| | Fouls Conceded | 20 | 15
| | Offsides | 1 | 1
| | Yellow Cards | 4 | 1
| | Red Cards | 0 | 0
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MATCH FACTS
Germany: Kopke (5), Woerns (6), Babbel (7), Matthaus (5), Helmer (6) (Ziege (6) 38), Heinrich (6) (Moeller (6) 58), Hamann (6), Tarnat (7), Haessler (6) (Kirsten (6) 74), Bierhoff (7), Klinsmann (8)
Subs Not Used: Lehmann, Kahn, Thon, Reuter, Jeremies, Freund, Marschall
Booked: Babbel, Matthaus, Tarnat, Hamann.
Goals: Klinsmann 75, Bierhoff 86
Mexico: Campos (6), Suarez (6), Davino (6), Pardo (6), Garcia Aspe (7) (Pelaez 87), Villa (6), Bernal (6) (Carmona (6) 45), Lara (6), Blanco (7), Hernandez (8), Palencia (7) (Arellano (7) 53)
Subs Not Used: O. Sanchez, Perez, Terrazas, J. Sanchez, Ordiales, Luna, Garcia
Booked: Davino, Blanco
Goals: Hernandez 47
Att: 35,000 (crowd rating: 7)
Ref: M Melo Pereira (Portugal) 7
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News 5 
