Date:01/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/01/stories/2008070160782100.htm

Sport - Football

We will beat Spain next time: Loew

BERLIN: Germany may have lost to Spain in the final of Euro 2008 but will win the next time they meet, coach Joachim Loew said on Monday as he and the team was given a heroes’ welcome in Berlin.

“The Spanish was a very good team all through the championship. We have to recognise their quality ... Should the Spanish come up again in a championship we will beat them,” Loew said to cheers from a crowd of 100,000 people gathered around the Brandenburg Gate.

“Yesterday we were crazy with disappointment and sadness, but I think that coming second was a great achievement for us. The team has performed amazingly in the last two years and we can be proud we were in the final,” he said.

Around 100,000 Germany fans welcomed the team home to the capital on Monday.

The cheering crowd waved German flags and signs bearing slogans of appreciation as the team players appeared one-by-one on a stage in front of Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate, kicking soccer balls into their midst. “Ballack: I love you,” said one woman’s sign at the event on the so-called “Fan Mile,” a venue set up for open-air viewings of the tournament matches. — Agencies