Germans look towards foreign factor

And German national team coach Berti Vogts has confirmed that he’s seriously interested in them in his efforts to rejuvenate an ageing national team that had a disastrous World Cup.

“The door’s open,” Vogts said at the weekend of 25-year-old Neuville, who plays for Hansa Rostock, 25-year-old Rink, who showed good weekend form for Leverkusen, and 22-year-old Dogan.

The Turk in the trio received German nationality in 1992, and has long played for Germany’s under-21 national side. He moved from Bayer Uerdingen to Istanbul side Fenerbahce two years ago.

In the case of Rink, the Brazilian Football Federationappears to have given tacit consent to the striker playing for Germany, offering no veto when asked by the German Federation to react by Saturday.

Vogts is under enormous pressure following Germany’s quarter-final exit from the World Cup, losing 3-0 to Croatia — the second in succession after the quarter-final loss to Bulgaria in 1994.

The next campaign, defence of the European Championship title won in 1996, begins in October with a tough group qualification match away to Turkey. Test matches against Malta and Romania precede that.

Vogts has already agreed to consider restoring rebel mid-fielder Stefan Effenberg, who was kicked off the squad during the 1994 World Cup for making an obscene gesture at fans.

Another under consideration as a key player in the revamped squad is Effenberg’s Bayern Munich mid-field partner Mario Basler – another enfant terrible with a weakness for cigarettes and gambling.

The squeaky-clean Vogts has doggedly resisted media calls to step down – but has clearly decided tosacrifice personal principle and that the time has come for a clear-out in both squad and tactics.

The retirement of veterans Lothar Matthaeus, Juergen Klinsman, Olaf Thon and Juergen Klinsmann who helped raise the squad’s average age to around 30 leaves the way clear for experiment.

Vogts is now believed to be thinking in terms of a three or four-man defence line, doing away with the sweeper system which has served the Germans so well in the past.

“The most important thing is to find a new formation as quickly as possible,” said the 51-year-old coach, who has pledged to pack up and go should Germany fail to qualify for the 2000 European Championship.He will be naming a squad of around 25 players next week for the Malta and Romania test games on September 2 and 5.