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Germany not practicing penalties

27/06/2010 04:26:05 AM Comments (0)

Germany's goalkeeping coach doesn't think there's much point spending a lot of time practicing penalties ahead of Sunday's World Cup second-round match against England.

Andreas Koepke said practice conditions can't be compared with the pressure of a full stadium, or simulate the fatigue after 120 minutes of football.

England has lost two penalty shootouts to Germany in important matches, including the 1996 European Championships when Koepke was the goalkeeper who stopped England from reaching the final.

"You cannot train for the situation in stadium. In practice, every professional will make every shot. But in a full stadium at the end of 120 minutes when you are tired, it's a different situation," Koepke said in response to questions at a news conference on Saturday.

Koepke stopped Gareth Southgate's shot from the spot in the semifinals at the European championship 14 years ago and Germany went on to beat the Czech Republic in the final.

Koepke was also goalkeeping coach four years ago when Germany finished third in the World Cup at home after eliminating Argentina on penalties in the quarterfinals. That was when goalkeeper Jens Lehmann famously pulled a note from his socks with instructions on which way the Argentines took their shots - and stopped two to send Germany to the semis.

Germany's current goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will also have his instructions, Koepke said.

"We would prefer the match not to go to penalties and that we win in regulation time, but we will be prepared. Neuer will get the information necessary to get us through," said Koepke, declining to give anything even remotely specific. "We'll talk about it inside the team. We need a few surprises tomorrow so it makes no sense to discuss it here now."

Since England's contentious 4-2 extra-time win over Germany in the 1966 World Cup final, Germany has won five of the 11 major tournament finals it has reached. England can count only semifinal appearances in the 1990 World Cup and Euro '96 among its highlights, and lost both in shootouts to Germany.

While Germany has not missed a penalty kick in a World Cup shootout since Uli Stielike's shot against France in 1982, England has consistently failed in shootouts at major tournaments. Besides the two losses to Germany, England also lost to Argentina and twice to Portugal on spot kicks.

The last time Germany lost a penalty shootout was in the 1976 European Championship final against Czechoslovakia.

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