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Saturday, 13 March 2010

World News Lehmann Critical of Euro 2008 Ball

GERMAN goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has admitted he is struggling to adjust to the new ball that will be used at Euro 2008.

The 38-year-old's performance in Tuesday's friendly with Belarus was criticised as Germany let slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2.

Lehmann, who has scarcely featured for his club this season, conceded twice in the last 30 minutes to Vitali Bulyga to again raise questions over his suitability for the number one spot in Austria and Switzerland.

And Lehmann revealed he was finding the movement of the new ball difficult to cope with.

He told Kicker magazine: "The ball is very difficult for me. I only trained with it for the first time a week ago. It is once again different to the ones before it.

"I had a situation in the first half (against Belarus) where I wanted to hold on to the ball - and then it started to move around.

"I hope in the coming days, when also my freshness will come back, that I then have a bit of time for a lot of shot training in order to get more familiar with the ball."

Low admitted Lehmann is still short of match practice, but claimed he had no intention of dropping him.

He told the German FA's official website, www.dfb.de: "You can sense that he needs games. He will definitely play in goal against Serbia on Saturday. We still trust him."

The Germany coach has included Hannover's Robert Enke and uncapped Bayer Leverkusen youngster Rene Adler as the other two goalkeepers in his squad.

Copyright (c) 2009 Press Association

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