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Koepke concerned only with wins
Posted: Wednesday July 01, 1998 11:23 AM
Special from L'Equipe, the French sports daily PARIS
(L'Equipe) -- Andreas Köpke is currently ranked 25th in the goalkeeper
standings that L'Equipe keeps. He told a reporter from German
television station ARD Tuesday that he shouldn't take it too seriously.
Maybe he's right. No matter how subjective these standings are, they
show how average his performances have been in this his third World Cup.
His coach in Marseille, Rolland Courbis, is even thinking of replacing him
with Paraguay's
José-Luis Chilavert. Two years ago, after Germany's
European Championship title, he was considered the best in Europe, if not
the whole world. But his first World Cup matches have been marked by signs
of weakness, which culminated in Yugoslavia's
second goal. When he couldn't block Darko Kovacevic's center pass, Dragan
Stojkovic scored. "There's no question, it's my fault," Köpke admitted.
"Since I made that mistake, I've been closely scrutinized. But I can't do
anything about it now."
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Koepke has been criticized for giving up a couple of weak goals (AP) |
Against Mexico, Köpke
missed two balls. In the first half, he couldn't stop a Marcelino Bernal
shot cleanly. Near the end of the match, he couldn't get his hands on a
high ball which led to a clear scoring chance for Luis Hernandez.
"Obviously, when you miss those balls, it's not easy, after," he explained.
"It annoys me not to look surer but I hope everything goes well now.
Against Mexico, the match went on, and when you make decisive stops, like I
also made, you regain your confidence." Köpke saved his team three times
against Mexico. He was decisive with Hernandez at the 62nd minute and in
stoppage time, with Palencia at the 43rd minute, showing his weakness is a
passing thing. He also prevented Lothar Matthaüs, who was struggling with
Jesus Arellano, from scoring an own goal in the second half. "I didn't
notice it was Lothar who shot, but it's certain that if they'd scored, it
would have been very tough because the heat made things harder for us,"
Köpke said. The Germans pulled it through, like they often do. Saying,
like Berti Vogts or Olivier Bierhoff do, that Germany will never be Brazil doesn't
make it any less frustrating to watch this team play, but some of the
criticism still surprises Köpke. "We know we can play better. But if we
were that bad, we wouldn't be playing in the quarterfinals," he said.
Even though a lot of people think Köpke's backup, Oliver Kahn, is the
best German goalie, Köpke will be playing his 59th match Saturday against
Croatia. He
won't be concerned with no standings, the only thing at stake will be a
semifinal berth.
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