Ribbeck makes a staunch defence

Things may have been hotting up for Kevin Keegan in nearby Spa yesterday, but at the German base in Vaals, coach Erich Ribbeck has become used to the simmering heat from an agitated press corps - even before yesterday's dissection of Monday's opening game began.

Once again, Lothar Matthaus was the main focus of journalists' questions to the German coach, with a succession of reporters managing to come up with different ways of suggesting that, after a disappointing performance in the draw, even Ribbeck might now fancy taking his veteran sweeper into the nearby woods and, well, losing him.

Ribbeck gave every hint of remaining a Matthaus loyalist, though. "I had always known that Lothar was not going to be out there for the whole 90 minutes binding the players together," he said. "And the fact that we conceded a goal so early on makes it difficult for everybody because you have to work hard and take risks to get back into the game. At the same time, it is not fair to expect somebody to contribute to the attacking play and then always to be in position when it comes to defending."

Ribbeck, who is expected to start with Matthaus again on Saturday, then went on to shift some of the attention to his fellow defender Thomas Linke - whose initial error led to the Romanian goal - when he added: "I think there were some problems with the way we played yesterday, but some of the weaknesses exposed can't be explained away by age or such things."

It was clear from many of the questions at the hour-long session that large sections of the German press believe many squad members are unhappy at the continued involvement of Matthaus and Thomas Hassler. Yet if they are, Ribbeck wasn't going to concede it publicly.

Team captain Oliver Bierhoff, meanwhile, was equivocal regarding his own views on the subject of his senior colleagues and on team spirit in general, adding only that "it is right that every one of the 22 players can have their say and I will have mine, although for obvious reasons I am loath to get into it all here and now".

Regarding Saturday's game against the English, he was equally circumspect, preferring, like his manager, to focus on the strength of the Portuguese performance rather than any perceived weaknesses in Keegan's side.

Nevertheless, when one English journalist asked Ribbeck about the German approach to being 2-0 up, the raucous laughter which engulfed the entire room was a clear indication that, whatever their doubts, nobody in or around the German camp reckons their team could blow things in quite the same way.

"It's hard to compare sides in different games," said Ribbeck. "Take the Czechs, who should have been 2-0 up against the Dutch the other night but who, against us recently, looked like quite a weak side. So we must remember that things can change very quickly in these situations and, even after the Portuguese looking like they could do anything last night, we might have a surprise when they play the Romanians, who came to these championships with a very strong record."

Almost inevitably there was talk of England's physical strength. Although if, after looking at the tapes of England's 3-2 defeat on Monday, the Germans can find any reason to feel concerned on that score, then Lothar and the boys simply must be starting to feel their age.