Germany warm up win late win

Germany warm up win late win

FREIBURG, JUNE 8: A late Ulf Kirsten hat-trick helped Germany forget an embarrassing first half and beat Liechtenstein 8-2 in the European Champions' final test before they begin the defence of their title.

``Lothar will only play if he's 100 per cent fit,'' said Ribbeck who made a total 10 substitutions. ``We have to wait and see what the doctors say.''

Matthaeus said he thought the injury was was not too serious.

``It's not the muscle I'd hurt, it's another one,'' said the 39-year-old who will end his international career after Euro 2000. ``I don't think it's torn but you have to be careful with those things.''

The match was level at 2-2 when substitute Marco Bode put the Germans 3-2 up in 65th minute. Liechtenstein ran out of steam soon afterwards.

``It's always hard against the so-called little teams because they always give you a hard time until they eventually lose strength,'' said Ribbeck. ``We've got five days before we play Romania and there's still time to experiment.''