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EURO 2008: Coach apologizes over pictures

Polish tabloids Super Express and Fakt are pictured on a desk in Warsaw showing anti-German composite pictures prior to the Euro 2008 game between Poland and Germany tomorrow. PHOTO: AP

Poland's national soccer coach apologized on Thursday after a tabloid newspaper ran a gruesome depiction of him holding the severed heads of Germany's national trainer and team captain and demanded he slaughter them at Euro 2008.

The photomontage in Super Express of Poland's Dutch coach, Leo Beenhakker, clutching the bloodied heads of Michael Ballack and Joachim Low provoked outrage in Germany and threatened to overshadow the match between the two group B teams tomorrow.

The picture ran alongside the caption: “Leo, Give us their heads,” arguing that Poland, who have never beaten Germany, had waited too long for a victory over its neighbor. The image followed another tabloid’s take on the rivalry, which showed Ballack wearing a Prussian helmet and recalled a battle in which Teutonic knights were defeated by the Poles.

“This picture is an absolute scandal,” said Peter Danckert, chairman of Germany’s parliamentary sports commission. “I hope that the Polish government will react to it in an appropriate manner.”

Germany’s tabloid Bild responded by stating in a provocative banner headline that Poland had declared war against Germany and calling it “disgusting.”

Beenhakker said it was “mad, dirty and sick” and apologized to Germany, on behalf of Poland’s squad.

“We want to say sorry to the German people,” he said.

The tabloid coverage has led to comparisons with the British Daily Mirror’s “Achtung Surrender!” headline during Euro 96, along with its pastiche of Neville Chamberlain’s 1939 declaration: “Mirror declares football war on Germany!” for which the paper’s editor was forced to apologize.

The European soccer union, UEFA, said on Thursday night: “We knew this encounter would be accompanied by a certain explosiveness, but we hope that what happens on the pitch will remain the central focus.”
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