BONN, July 7: Germany plunged into a bout of soul-searching as experts, editorialists and the general public tried to cope again with World Cup failure.The national team's 3-0 defeat by Croatia on Saturday night was the second successive time the Germans had gone out in the quarter-finals of the world's premier competition.The defeat prompted calls for more investment in young players, a radical rebuilding of the national team and a recall of Stefan Effenberg, the bad boy of German soccer.Although there was a general acceptance this was not one of Germany's most talented World Cup teams, coach Berti Vogts and his players still faced criticism for a lack of creativity on the field and a lack of sportsmanship off it.`Bad World Cup. Bad losers. Just stop moaning!' read the front-page headline in Bild, Germany's biggest-selling daily, yesterday.Vogts had heaped much of the blame for the loss on referee Rune Pedersen, who sent off defender Christian Woerns. The coach even went as far as to implysome sort of conspiracy against Germany among international soccer chiefs.The defeat came too late for the few Sunday newspapers in Germany to provide much in the way of a post-mortem but Monday's editions were full of reflection on the result.Franz Beckenbauer, the most famous figure in German soccer who coached the national team to the its last World Cup title in 1990, said it was time to bring back Effenberg.The brilliant mid-fielder was sent home from the 1994 World Cup for making an obscene gesture to German fans and has not played for the national team since.``All our best performers and natural leaders are retiring, Beckenbauer wrote in a column for Bild. `There's only one person who can take over their role - Stefan Effenberg.'None of the big names in the German soccer world has dared to suggest Vogts should quit after eight years in charge.But a poll for RTL television indicated he is far from being a universal favourite - 50.6 per cent of callers to the station said he shouldstay, while 49.4 per cent thought he should go.Vogts has said he plans to stay on. If he does, he would have to undertake a major overhaul of the team.Juergen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthaeus and Juergen Kohler are all hanging up their boots. Andreas Moeller, Andy Koepke, Olaf Thon and Thomas Haessler belong to the same generation and may also decide to quit the national setup.But an influx of foreign players into the Bundesliga means that many of the younger prospects are not even first-team players for their clubs.``I hope we can now start a more serious discussion about promoting and encouraging sports,'' said Manfred Von Richthofen, the president of the German Sports Federation.He suggested German soccer authorities should work more closely with schools. He also proposed big clubs reach voluntary agreements to work together to encourage fresh talents.Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, a senior official at the German Soccer Federation and president of Bundesliga side VFB Stuttgart, said it was also timeto tap the potential of foreign children living in Germany. ``We have to have a rethink at the Federation and go to the parents of young foreign children and gain them for German football,'' Mayer-Vorfelder told Kicker magazine.
