When the players trudged towards the dressing room area of Zentral Stadium with bronze medals around their necks, the Leipzig crowds bade them a spectacularly noisy farewell. But when they entered the locker rooms, the noise did not subside. This time it was the team coaches, headed by Juergen Klinsmann and his many assistants, who gave them a rapturous welcome with thunderous applause and jubilant cries. “We congratulated the team in the locker rooms in style”, Klinsmann later reported with satisfaction and pride lighting up his face. The players of the German national team had more than earned the recognition of the crowds and their coaching staff. With some splendid attacking play, and old German fighting spirit, they achieved a 4-3 (3-3, 2-1) victory over Mexico after extra time, and finished the FIFA Confederations Cup 2005 in third place.

In their last match of the tournament the team proved their readiness for FIFA World Cup™ action in front of 43,355 spectators, especially as they had to play 66 minutes with one man short after Mike Hanke had been sent off. “It was a real spectacle”, Klinsmann’s assistant Joachim Loew enthused. Lukas Podolski (37th) opened the series of seven goals with a fantastic 18m shot into the right upper corner. Bastian Schweinsteiger (41st) finished off a beautiful passing move, then Robert Huth (79th) scored his first international goal. But during the full 90-minutes the Central American champions equalized three times -- Jose Fonseca (40th), followed by two headers from Jared Borgetti (58th, 85th). Much to the excitement of the delighted Leipzig crowd, it was Saxony-born Michael Ballack who scored the winning goal with a great free kick in the 97th minute, thus ensuring victory in a top level, very exciting match.

A euphoric pre-FIFA World Cup™ atmosphere prevailed in the arena, which reached even further heights at the final whistle when the players unfurled a banner that read “Thanks fans - you are super”. “This will become even more intensive when we play in the big grounds in Munich, Schalke or Dortmund next year”, Hanke said. He was in the starting line-up for the first time, but will be banned from the next international match due to his red card for a foul on Carlos Salcido. This could well be the FIFA World Cup™ opening game on July 9, 2006, but Klinsmann announced the German Football Association, DFB, will protest against the sending off because it was not a serious foul and spreading the ban to a FIFA World Cup™ match would be unfair. Hanke voiced a more cunning idea: “Perhaps I can sit out the ban at a U21 match?” Neither the Mexicans nor the Germans were satisfied with the performance of Australian referee Matthew Breeze. “It was crazy what he whistled for”, Torsten Frings said.

Despite being full of enthusiasm, the youngest team in the tournament once again showed weaknesses in defence. Oliver Kahn repeated the criticism he had voiced after the 4-3 against Australia, that the defence was too unstable. “It must start you thinking when you get eleven goals in five matches. Any repeat would put the FIFA World Cup™ title out of reach”, the 36-year-old said. But Loew replied: “If we continue to score one goal more than we concede, we will be happy. The team have taken a great step forward since last August, although we can still improve in many areas”. Klinsmann said of the often leaky defence: “Nobody wants to concede three goals, not just Olli. We will work on it”. But in general, he can be very happy with his first season as national coach with ten wins, five draws and two defeats.

During extra time, Klinsmann was singled out for praise by the fans with his name being chanted continually for the first time in an international match. “I am really pleased when anyone gets applauded and receives a pat on the back for his work. But the team have earned outstanding praise”. The former world-class striker was undoubtedly right. The fans love the kind of football Klinsmann’s youngsters play. There were moments of sparkling displays which showed they were having fun: clever backheels (Ballack, Schweinsteiger), artistic headers (Deisler), scooping passes (Ballack, Deisler) and an attempted overhead kick (Hanke). The hosts showed in the first half that technically they are on the same level as the sixth best in the World Rankings (DFB: at present 21st). But soon there were further positional problems in defence.

The first three goals were all scored as the result of clever approach play prompted by first class team work, while the winning goal was the first goal for Ballack from a free kick, after three earlier tournament successes from the penalty spot. The captain was elected the best player of the match for the third time and complimented his fellow-players: “I am proud of my team, particularly with the way they fought with ten players. If we keep on like that, we might become a great team”. And Klinsmann bade farewell to head off on holiday with the following encouragement: “The coaching staff takes great joy in this team”. New joy can be triggered at the next international match -- versus Netherlands on August 17 in Rotterdam.