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Voeller is the first to admit that his team hasn't exactly electrified World Cup audiences. He also repeats often enough that the best team doesn't necessarily win the title. The Germans have done no more than necessary and that has been enough to take them to their 10th semifinal. More importantly, it's their best showing since 1990, when they won the last of their three titles. It's also a timely salve for the wounds left by the Euro 2000 disaster, when the Germans went home without a victory as defending champion. Much of the credit must go to Voeller, who only got the job when coach-designate Christoph Daum flunked a cocaine test. In two years, Voeller has taken a team woefully low on confidence back to the top ranks. ``Voeller's has been an absolutely fortunate choice,'' said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, a vice president of the German soccer federation whose main job was to help reconstruct the team after Euro 2000. ``He is very confident and he relays this feeling to the players. He is also very relaxed, which is very good in such a long tournament,'' said Rummenigge, who was Voeller's teammate on the 1986 team that lost the final to Argentina. Then as now, few people back home expected Germany to get that far. Having been there and done that, Voeller knows exactly how to get the team through the grueling grind of daily routine in a camp-like atmosphere.
Voeller didn't make any sweeping changes immediately after becoming coach, although no one would have questioned such a move after Euro 2000. He gradually brought in some of the younger talents and started giving them more responsibility, while retaining some of the veterans who were eager to wipe out the stigma from Euro 2000. ``He managed to stabilise the team very quickly and then started slowly changing the team,'' Rummenigge said. As one of Germany's all-time best strikers, Voeller won the World Cup in 1990. He is now two wins away from repeating it as coach. He enjoys tremendous popularity at home and unquestionable authority among the players.Voeller's reign hasn't been all success. He had to endure the bitter 1-5 loss at home to England in qualifying that sent Germany to the nerve-racking playoff against Ukraine. The 42-year-old coach says that was the defining moment for his team. ``Those were the hardest days in my career. I had never been under so much pressure,'' Voeller said. ``But that's when the team grew together, when we created this spirit we have and when we showed that we are able to produce under pressure,'' he said. Being a player was a lot easier, Voeller said. ``You have so much more responsibility as coach.'' Up front, Voeller trusted his instinct and went with Miroslav Klose. Klose has justified Voeller's trust by notching five goals so far. Germany also has benefited from a favourable draw. The only European team so far in its path was Ireland, and it was the only team the Germans didn't manage to beat, playing to a 1-1 draw. Voeller has restored the Germans' trademark desire and relentless drive, characteristics that have served German soccer well in the past. ``Honestly, we were not so good in 1986 and 1990, yet we went to the final in '86 and won the title four years later,'' Voeller keeps telling his players. It may happen again. — AP
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