Football: Irish hit hard by German recovery

Northern Ireland 0 Germany 3

IT MAY or may not be that the peace process will eventually heal enough wounds and build enough bridges for a united Ireland football team to take on the world. In the meantime, the Belfast-based Irish Football Association is launching a campaign against sectarian songs and chanting at Windsor Park, where supporters of whichever religious persuasion are becoming resigned to an extended period in the international wilderness.

Failure to win at home to Moldova, after a drubbing in Turkey, had already minimised Northern Ireland's chances of qualifying for their first major tournament since 1986. Optimistic hopes of catching the European champions, Germany, at a low ebb of their own on Saturday lasted precisely 10 minutes.

Any illusions Lawrie McMenemy had after taking over as manager a year ago about emulating his friend Jack Charlton's success with the Republic of Ireland were dispelled almost as quickly. In international terms, he is working not with a Southampton - capable of rising high above their station and challenging the best - but with the equivalent of his first club, Doncaster.

Like Charlton, he has attempted to exploit the more bizarre of Fifa's eligibility rules, introducing on Saturday a goalkeeper, Maik Taylor, born in Germany with no Northern Ireland connections at all. A new English defender, Chesterfield's Mark Williams, was also brought in and made a decent fist of marking Oliver Bierhoff, but the squad's greatest weakness is still in attack.

Until West Bromwich Albion's James Quinn, Steve Robinson, of Bournemouth, or Norwich City's Adrian Coote progress, McMenemy is dependent on Iain Dowie, a poor man's Niall Quinn, whose head inevitably becomes the focal point of every attack. Neither the more mobile Michael Hughes nor the unpredictable Keith Gillespie are fully fit, so it was no surprise that the Irish were unable to profit from Germany's initial uncertainty.

The goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, a weak link strongly criticised by the former national coach Jupp Derwall, offered Williams an early chance of glory by completely missing a corner, but Lothar Matthaus cleared off the line.

"Matthaus is an amazing fella," McMenemy said. "I'd said to our lads: 'We can't have a 38-year-old ruling the pitch, can we'?" Dowie might have taken that as a personal insult, but was in no position to prevent the Bayern Munich veteran stepping forward into midfield and pulling the strings in a manner that no British player has ever managed, 30 years after Franz Beckenbauer first showed the way.

A minor strain led to Matthaus coming off at half-time as a precaution ahead of Wednesday's home game against Finland, in which victory will put Germany on top of the group. Defeat away to Turkey in the first game under Erich Ribbeck and another, with a weakened team, by the United States had led to rare talk of crisis. Such things are relative, as someone in McMenemy's position is well aware.

Beckenbauer's presence in Belfast, in his role as vice-president of the German Football Federation - a rare appearance at an away match - had nevertheless emphasised the importance of the occasion for the Germans. They were never in danger of further drama or crisis once Matthaus had cleared his lines and the home defence had fluffed theirs, allowing Oliver Neuville to cross for Marco Bode to head the opening goal.

Taylor's first touch of the ball in international football was therefore to pick it out of his net. He was beaten twice more by free-kicks from Bode and Newcastle's Dietmar Hamann, the latter's shot severely deflected by Steve Morrow.

Ribbeck agreed with Beckenbauer that the scoreline was "a little unfair" but Hamann's summing up was as accurate as it was succinct: "Northern Ireland started well but after our first goal I thought we controlled the play."

Goals: Bode (11) 0-1, Bode (42) 0-2, Hamann (63) 0-3.

NORTHERN IRELAND (4-4-1-1): Taylor (Fulham); Patterson (Dundee Utd), Williams (Chesterfield), Morrow (Arsenal), Horlock (Mancheester City); Gillespie (Blackburn Rovers), Lomas (West Ham Utd), Lennon (Leicester City), Rowland (Queen's Park Rangers); M Hughes (Wimbledon); Dowie (Queen's Park Rangers). Substitutes: McCarthy (Birmingham City) for Gillespie, 83; Sonner (Sheffield Wednesday) for Lennon, 68; Kennedy (Watford) for Rowland, 68.

GERMANY (3-4-3): Kahn (Bayern Munich); Babbel (Bayern Munich), Matthaus (Bayern Munich), Worns (Paris St Germain); Strunz (Bayern Munich), Hamann (Newcastle Utd), Jeremies (Bayern Munich), Heinrich (Fiorentina); Neuville (Hansa Rostock), Bierhoff (MIlan), Bode (Werder Bremen). Substitutes: Nowotny (Bayer Leverkusen) for Matthaus, h-t; Jancker (Bayern Munich) for Neuville, 68; Preetz (Hertha Berlin) for Bode, 78.

Referee: G Cesari (Italy). Bookings: Northern Ireland: Patterson. Germany: Bode, Worns.

Man of the match: Babbel.

Attendance: 14,270.