False starts for van gaal and deschamps

Louis van gaal was "shocked by some individual mistakes" after his "oranje" team lost 4-2 in belgium, and didier deschamps had to endure whistles from the fans and hames from the newspapers after the "bleus" drew 0-0 against uruguay.

"It was enough to put you to sleep," wrote the sports newspaper "L'equipe". And columnist vincent duluc suspects that deschamps has "several reasons for migraneanfalle" before qualifying for the world cup with world and european champions spain in the group. Deschamp's junior team, which included eight players who had not yet played in the european championships, had 70 percent of the ball against the sudamericans, but hardly any scoring chances. Only one chance for bavaria's winger franck ribery and two goals against the post were scored in the stade oceane of le havre. Nevertheless, the coach saw: a "rather satisfactory" game.

At least louis van gaal couldn't complain about the lack of goals in his comeback – they were too often scored on the wrong side of the net. The netherlands had a 2-1 lead thanks to a double strike by luciano narsingh (54.) and schalkes goalkeeper klaas-jan huntelaar (55.) already led. But then belgium turned the result upside down in five minutes and showed van gaal the weaknesses of his defense. "You can't win like that," he realized after the 2:4 (0:1).

Former HSV professional rafael van der vaart sought the reasons for the bankruptcy at his 100. Country match in the early game. "We are still in the season preparation," he told the internet portal nusport. "We have new players, we have a new system and a new coach."He relied on huntelaar in the forward line – and robin van persie on the bench. England's goal-scoring king, who has just moved from arsenal london to manunited for 29.2 million euros, is not enough of a centre-forward, van gaal said, and opened up the battle of the goalscorers. His hope: "a duel at a high level" – at least in the forward line.

Only the equally weak performance of the first world cup qualifying opponent turkey in vienna in the 0:2 against austria could provide hope. The first win over the former world cup bronze medalists in 24 years was overshadowed, however, by a scandal involving HSV newcomer paul scharner: after an alleged dispute with coach marcel koller over his playing time, the 32-year-old left – and was immediately kicked out of the team by the national coach. Austrian midfielder andreas ivanschitz of FSV mainz 05 jumped to koller's side: "there is no demand for a starting berth in modern fubball. That's not a point you can demand."

A good four weeks before the qualifying duel against germany, the ofb selection was well rested. "I think the win is okay, even if we still have room for improvement going forward," said schalke 04 captain christian fuchs. After fourth win in series, he sees "a tendency that there is a certain consistency". Germany's first qualifying opponent faroe islands at least got a cautionary win in 2-0 defeat in iceland. Sweden also held its own against brazil for a long time and was only beaten 3-0 (0-1) by two goals in the final phase.

England took revenge for the lost european championship quarterfinal with a 2:1 (1:1) win against italy. Italy's coach cesare prandelli had relied on the young talent and was not dissatisfied. "Even though defeats in friendly matches always hurt, they do help," he said. "Some young players are already ready, others still need to become more consistent in the league." also the "gazzetta dello sport" held back: "the baby italia female to please, but loses."

Meanwhile, spain's trip to puerto rico paid off financially: the iberians won 2-1 (2-0) and are said to have collected around three million euros for their performance. Santi cazorla (42.) and cesc fabregas (45.) scored before the break, marc cintron (65.) provided for the much acclaimed connecting goal.

A historic success was achieved by jurgen klinsmann, who led the united states to its first victory in mexico city against its london-gold decorated neighbor. "This is a huge victory for our fans and our team," klinsmann said after the 1-0 win. In contrast, whistles against captain andrej arshavin overshadowed fabio capello's debut as russian national coach. Fans criticize the striker for his mistakes after the early exit from the european championship. The match against the ivory coast ended in a 1-1 draw in Moscow.