Theofanis Gekas / Greece:
The new signing for next season from Bayer Leverkusen (last on loan at now relegated Hertha BSC Berlin) featured in two of the three group B games for Greece. They started off getting beaten by South Korea. In the second game Gekas helped his side winning 2-1 against Nigeria, and had a few chances to score. He was left out by German manager Otto Rehhagel in the final match, the 2-0 defeat against Argentina which meant packing up and going home. Rehhagel later resigned from his nine year appointment managing the Hellenic side, which included the historic win of EURO 2004.
Pirmin Schwegler / Switzerland:
One of Eintracht’s newcomers last season, Pirmin Schwegler was also picked by Switzerland manager Ottmar Hitzfeld to go to South Africa. Not really a surprise looking at his great performances for Frankfurt last season, and his talent. But as there is strong competition in the Swiss midfield with Barnetta of Leverkusen, Behrami, Inler, Yakin and the likes Pirmin ended up playing not a single minute. Switzerland surprised everyone by triumphing over the European Champions of Spain in their first group H match. But they went on to lose against Chile and with a scoreless draw against Honduras they stopped blowing the Vuvuzelas.
Ricardo Clark / USA:
US boy Clark had an unlucky spell in South Africa with two appearances. He played the full 90 minutes against England in group C, where the USA snatched a draw by scoring a lucky goal, England goalie Green let Dempsey’s soft shot slip through his arms. Our American midfielder who recently signed for three years after half a season on probation then played again in the round of the last 16 against Ghana. In the fifth minute he couldn’t get hold of Ghana’s Berlin born midfielder Kevin Prince Boateng who went on to score the first goal of the evening. Unlucky Ricardo was subbed off after only half an hour which must have been a deep disappointment to him. The USA went on to equalize but then lost the game after extra time. Let’s give Ricardo all our support on his return to Frankfurt, I’m sure he’ll be keen on proving everyone what he’s capable of.
Habib Bellaid / Algeria: Former French U21 international Bellaid has not played a lot at Eintracht, and was mostly on loan to French clubs recently. Just before the World Cup Algeria decided to take him on as a defender and he agreed. Like Schwegler he did not play a single minute in South Africa, his future at Frankfurt is uncertain. Algeria impressed with a 0-0 draw against England, but had to leave after the group stage.
Former Eagles in Action
A few former Eintracht players also featured for their respective international sides, and it was great to see them bringing some good memories back.
Du-Ri Cha – son of all time Eintracht legend Bum-Kun Cha and born in Frankfurt– had three games for South-Korea who went out unlucky against Uruguay in the round of the last 16. Du-Ri had 87 appearances in Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga for Eintracht scoring 12 goals. It has just been confirmed that he will join Celtic Glasgow.
Sotirios Kyrgiakos played a couple of games for the Greece squad in South Africa alongside Theofanis Gekas. He had shown his ruthless defending style during a two season spell at Eintracht between 2006 and 2008 and went on to play at AEK Athens and surprisingly Liverpool FC.
Benjamin Huggel played the full three games for Switzerland including the historic win against Spain. He had 52 Bundesliga appearances for Eintracht in 2005/06 and 06/07 scoring one goal. Christoph Spycher missed the SA trip altogether, our recent skipper and five year left defender was not picked by manager Ottmar Hitzfeld due to an injury.
Sad News – Former Coach Joerg Berger Died
Sadly former Eintracht manager and saviour Joerg Berger died far too early, at the age of only 65 years. We will never forget him, and our thoughts are with his family.
He had two spells at Eintracht, the first one was between January 1989 until April 1991 when he saved the club from relegation in play-off games. He went on to form a competitive side around local talents and great players like Uwe Bein and Anthony Yeboah, competing for the title at some stage.
He then rejoined the club when Eintracht was in deep trouble once again, and he managed the “Miracle of Frankfurt” in 1999, saving top flight football for Eintracht on goal difference with a 5-1 win during the last match of the season. For this alone he will always be remembered.
Rest In Peace – Joerg Berger!
