Source: Xinhua
06-06-2008 21:55
Special Report: 2008 European ChampionshipsVIENNA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Tongue war erupted on Thursday between Poland and Germany just three day before their clash in the 2008 European football championship in Klagenfurt of Austria on Sunday.
Thursday's editions of two Polish tabloids declared a front-page war against German national football team.
The two dailies, Fakt and Super Express, ran a doctored picture calling for the heads of German striker Michael Ballack and coach Joachim Loew.
The move were blasted by Poland's coach Leo Beenhakker and Warsaw's ambassador to Germany and also criticized by high-brow Polish media.
"We apologize to the German people," Beenhakker told media in Austria, where Poland meet Germany in their opening game in Group B.
"We want to distance ourselves totally from these weird, dirty and sick people," he said.
The Poland-Germany match on Sunday is regarded as one of the most sensitive of the 16-nation tournament -- not only because of the enduring bad blood of World War II, but also because of their on-the-pitch record.
The two sides have met each other 15 times since 1933 with Poland yet to manage a victory, the Germans having won 11 of them with the other four finishing in draws.
Super Express showed Dutchman Beenhakker carrying the severed heads of Germany star Michael Ballack and coach Joachim Loew. The headline reads: "Leo, bring us their heads!"
Fakt, meanwhile, portrayed Beenhakker as a sword-wielding warrior about to a deliver a death blow to Ballack, urging him to repeat the feat of the Poles who smashed the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, turning the tide of Polish-German history.
Ironically, Fakt belongs to the German media group Axel Springer.
"This shows an idiotic lack of taste. I wish them the worst," Poland's ambassador to Berlin Marek Prawda was quoted as saying in Germany's Die Welt.
"I think it is particularly bad that this is published at a time when fans are coming into contact. It's completely unnecessary and really should be ignored," he added.
The photo montage was described as "an absolute scandal" by German deputy Peter Danckert, chairman of the parliament's sports committee, who called for an "appropriate reaction" from the Polish government.
European soccer's governing body UEFA was quick to distance itself from the scandal.
"It is certainly not something we welcome," UEFA spokesman Robert Faulkner said in Basle. "We believe we should be speaking about soccer...We hope the focus will be on events on the pitch."
Editor:Zhang Ning
