Germany run out of ideas as Euro battle hots up

World Cup runners-up they may be but Germany are in a battle to reach the Euro 2004 finals following Saturday's 1-1 home draw against Lithuania which allowed Scotland to move top of their group.

The Germans needed only eight minutes to take the lead courtesy of central defender Carsten Ramelow but thereafter the hosts went to sleep as Lithuania equalised on 73 minutes through midfielder Tomas Razanauskas.

Scotland's 2-1 win over Iceland left them top on goal difference and the Germans now risk seeing their Group Five rivals, led by former Germany coach Berti Vogts, going through in their place.

Rudi Voller, the current German coach, could point to the injury absences of Michael Ballack, Jens Jeremies and Christoph Metzelder, all World Cup stalwarts - but Voller said that was no excuse.

The German media meanwhile spoke of a team in freefall and unaware of how to open a parachute.

"The early lead misled us. It makes you think you will come through without much ado," said Voller, whose men must travel to Scotland in June for their next match.

"That match against the Scots will be the crunch," said German Football Federation president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder.

"I can't explain what has gone wrong - we have to be more confident. We really shouldn't be afraid of the likes of Lithuania. At 1-0 we were fine but then things suddenly fell apart," said Mayer-Vorfelder.

Skipper Oliver Kahn admitted nerves had got the better of the team against opponents ranked just 106th in the world.

"We were worried about messing things up. But there are no free gifts these days - we have to work hard to qualify. We do have a few players in reserve, through," said Kahn, who will hope Bayern teammates Ballack and Jeremies will be back to hammer the Scots.

Voller insists the result could have a positive effect with enough games left to put the ship back on course.

"We have dropped two points but perhaps it was a timely wake-up call for us," said Voller.

But he may have to sound the alarm longer and louder for a side which he criticised as long ago as October for a lamentable 2-1 win over ultra-minnows the Faroe Islands while the side were even worse in losing a February friendly 3-1 to Spain.

Voller said a disallowed goal from Bernd Schneider should not be used as an excuse as "we didn't deserve to win."

Ramelow said the team would recover.

"I am still convinced we will qualify automatically for the finals," said the man whose goal did stand.

Lithuania now hope to beat the Scots on Wednesday in Vilnius to make the group a three-horse race.

"We want to beat the Scots and give ourselves a chance of second place. We want to help the Germans," smiled Algimantas Liubinskas.

Currently Voller's men need all the help they can get - otherwise the only German going to the finals could be Vogts.