1.5.2004
Pre-Euro 2004 Friendlies
Romania - Germany 5-1
Germany finished with a humiliating 5-1 loss in a friendly encounter against Romania.
The Germans started without stopper Christian Wörns and defensive midfielder Michael Ballack.
To compensate, coach Rudi Völler decided to pull back Jens Jeremies and Carsten Ramelow in the center of defense. He later admitted that this was an error but refused to accept this as an excuse. "I don't want to hear about the injuries of Wörns, Ballack and Klose. All of the players which played are experienced enough."
Italy - Spain 1-1
Italy and Spain both expressed satisfaction after a 1-1 draw at Genoa.
Giovanni Trapattoni hailed the return of Roberto Baggio, goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi and defender Fabio Cannavaro.
This friendly was Baggio's first international match in five years. Trapattoni iterated that there is no future for the former ace to play at Euro 2004.
Coach Iñaki Sáez was delighted by his team's performance. Sáez accented that his team possessed the ball better and controlled the match.
Netherlands - Greece 4-0
Greece's 15-match unbeaten streak has been put to an end by the Dutch. Dick Advocaat emphasized on a very organized midfield formation. In the second half, Advocaat's plan converted into goals.
Greece coach Otto Rehhagel justified this process with the quantity of substitutions, which he introduced.
Portugal - Sweden 2-2
Portugal barely pulled off a draw against Sweden. Regardless of their record of one win in five friendly matches, Luiz Felipe Scolari said that their preparation centers on experimentation.
Sweden's co-coach Lars Lagerbäck expressed satisfaction with the result and performance of his team. "We hope to play our best football with all the players available because we had some injuries which affected the team."
Denmark - Scotland 1-0
Bulgaria - Cameroon 3-0
Switzerland - Slovenia 2-1
Latvia - Iceland 0-0
F.Y.R. Macedonia - Croatia 0-1
Czech Republic - Japan 0-1
Norway - Russia 3-2