Football in Germany

A Turkish man has won 206,000 Turkish Liras in the lottery after playing the minutes of Germany’s historic Brazil rout goals as his lucky numbers.

Thomas Mueller spectacularly stole the limelight from World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo on June 16 with a hat-trick in a stunning 4-0 demolition of 10-man Portugal at the World Cup.

Bayern Munich star Mueller marked his 50th international appearance in style with a 12th-minute penalty and a first-half injury time strike.

By Karolos Grohmann

A 3-0 defeat by Colombia on Saturday in Greece's opening World Cup Group C game was a bad start to the tournament in Brazil but it is no drama, Greece coach Fernando Santos told reporters.

Santos said the Greeks, who have never managed to keep a clean sheet at a World Cup match, paid the price for a lack of focus at key moments in the game.

“The day of the great reckoning has arrived,” announced the headline in daily newspaper 24 Sata, reflecting the excitement and anticipation in Croatia as the national team prepare to face the five-time world champions at the start of the biggest tournament in football on Thursday.

Out-of-form Germany midfielder Mesut Özil will recover his form at the World Cup in Brazil this month despite recent lacklustre performances for club and country, Germany coach Joachim Löw said on June 5.

The 25-year-old Arsenal midfielder has enjoyed a rollercoaster season following a bright start after his big-money move from Real Madrid.

 Liverpool says it has agreed a deal in principle with Bayer Leverkusen to sign midfielder Emre Can.
     
A German youth international, the 20-year-old former Bayern Munich player had a big part in Leverkusen's fourth-place finish last season in the Bundesliga, scoring three goals in 29 league appearances.
     

By Karolos Grohmann

Greece will rely on Kostas Mitroglou to fire them into the knockout stage of the World Cup finals and after a slow start to his international career, and now at Fulham, the striker wants to show his true worth in Brazil.

By Karolos Grohmann

Former Werder Bremen and Greece coach Otto Rehhagel became the fourth German manager to be honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the country's football association (DFB) on Thursday.

Fulham could soon have Greece striker Costas Mitroglou back to assist in its Premier League relegation fight, manager Felix Magath said on Friday.

Mitroglou has featured just twice for the Londoners since joining from Olympiakos Piraeus for an undisclosed fee, which media reports put at 12 million pounds ($19.97 million), on transfer deadline day on January 31.

The young Bulgarian midfielder Todor Nedelev is expecting his debut for German club Mainz on Tuesday.

Nedelev joined Mainz in January from Botev Plovdiv, but was still recovering from an injury on his knee, suffered in September.