Milan Baros who scored Czech Republic’s winner on Wednesday

Not even the encouragement of 11 topless girls on the front page of the daily scandal sheet, Bild, could save Germany from disarray here Wednesday (as reported in Thursday’s Late City edition).

The beaten 2002 World Cup finalists traipsed out of Euro 2004 after losing 1-2 to a Czech team who made nine changes from the side who had beaten Holland. The knife was plunged with a 77th-minute winner from Milan Baros.

At least the Germans are in good company. Spain and Italy have already gone home. But the statistics are damning. Two goals, two draws and a defeat in three matches point to a deep malaise.

This is the second time in a row that the Germans have failed to progress beyond group stage in the European Championship. With the Czechs changing virtually the whole starting XI, this ranks as one of the great humiliations in German footballing history.

The Czech coach rested his best player, Pavel Nedved, goalkeeper Petr Cech, chief striker Jan Koller, playmaker Tomas Rocsicky, and Karel Poborsky, Baros and Vladimir Smicer.

Germany’s primary weakness is easy to spot. The absence of a reliable assassin. Since Oliver Bierhoff (37 goals) retired, there has been a lamentable dearth of scorers in the country that gave us Gerd Muller, Rudi Voeller, Jurgen Klinsmann, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uwe Seeler.

Against Holland and Latvia, the Germans came away with no wins and a single goal, despite trying four of their five strikers. In a desperate quest, Voeller deployed Ballack, his best midfielder, behind a lone striker, the 22-year-old Kevin Kuranyi.

Broadly, Germany have failed to keep up with the times. They still hunt success by laboriously passing the ball back and forth across the pitch while waiting for something to turn up.

The Germans and the Czechs were extending one of football’s deeper rivalries. The old Czechoslovakia’s only international triumph was a 5-3 victory on penalties against West Germany in the final of the 1976 European Championship. From the Euro 96 final at Wembley eight years ago, which Germany won 2-1, only Poborsky, Smicer and Nedved are still carrying the flag.

Ballack’s 20th minute goal was a pearl. Taking a short lay-off from the talented 19-year-old, Bastian Schweinsteiger, the German star smashed a left foot shot into the roof of Jaromir Blazek’s net.

But Karol Bruckner’s understudies had a point to make, and nine minutes later Marek Heinz, a Bundesliga reject but now top-scorer in the Czech league, unleashed a 22-yard free-kick off his left which eluded Oliver Kahn.

Voeller’s men launched themselves at the Czechs after the interval. On 65 minutes, the tireless Ballack struck a post, before a Jens Nowotny header was cleared off the line.

But then the action switched to Kahn’s end, and Baros was racing through the defence to unleash a shot which Kahn could only parry back to the Liverpool man, who gratefully accepted the second chance.

Teams

Germany: Oliver Kahn; Arne Friedrich, Christian Woerns, Jens Nowotny, Philipp Lahm, Torsten Frings (Lukas Podolski 46); Dietmar Hamann (Miroslav Klose 79), Bernd Scheider, Bastian Schweinsteiger (Jens Jeremies 86), Michael Ballack; Kevin Kuranyi.

Czech Republic: Jaromir Blazek; Pavel Mares, David Rozehnal, Rene Bolf, Martin Jiranek; Jaroslav Plasil (Karel Poborsky 70), Roman Tyce, Tomas Galasek (Tomas Huebschmann 46), Stepan Vachousek; Marek Heinz, Vratislav Lokvenc (Milan Baros 59).

Referee: Terje Hauge (Norway).