"It was a psychological thing," explained the manager, "facing the white jerseys of the European champions." Others who probably booked their places for the June double header were Alan Johnston, of Sunderland, whose old-fashioned winger's skills exposed a defensive weakness in Bayern Munich's Thomas Strunz that will not have gone unnoticed by Alex Ferguson and Ryan Giggs.Callum Davidson, the Blackburn left-back, gave another assured display, which included an "assist" on the goal. The commitment of Colin Hendry, Tom Boyd and Lambert made nonsense of suggestions that they would be saving themselves for the Celtic-Rangers match.Churlish as it may sound to point out weaknesses, David Weir's positional sense at right-back was not all it might have been. Colin Calderwood, who is playing regularly in the Premiership again after signing for Aston Villa, might be a more judicious choice.Craig Burley should also return, at the expense of Scot Gemmill or Ian Durrant, with Hutchison perhaps joining him in midfield. Up front, the work-rate of Billy Dodds may not be enough to prevent Neil McCann being given the chance to build on a performance of great promise against the Czechs.Whoever starts the next game, Brown deserves enormous credit for his shrewd marshalling of depleted resources. Many managers, conscious of how a win in Germany would look on their CV, would have been tempted to leave well alone.

He stuck to his promise not to over-exert players at a critical point in the domestic campaign and, in the closing stages, bravely blooded the Hearts' pair Paul Ritchie and Colin Cameron.Brown may have felt some sympathy for his opposite number, Erich Ribbeck. Germany's coach was mauled by the media after a 3-0 defeat in the United States but argued in mitigation that the match came during the Bundesliga's winter break. There could be no such excuses on this occasion.One kept waiting for the Germans to press the button and move into top gear, yet it never happened. We can not know whether things would have been different in a competitive game, but there were signs that the three- time world champions genuinely do not have a generation coming through to replace Klinsmann, Kohler and company.Lothar Matthaus, while still their main creative force, looked his 38 years in the second half. Oliver Bierhoff did not show the sharpness expected of a player who averages two goals every three games for his country.

Only the Italian-based midfielder Jorg Heinrich revealed the expected quality.Ribbeck, who noted that "it sounded as if there were 27,000 Scots in the stadium", may struggle to ensure Germany defend their title next year.. THE GERMAN television commentator's desperation grew "Where is the cross, where is the cross?" he asked The first useful one came after 60 minutes Then there was one good attempt at goal from Ulf Kirsten. And that was that, as the national team went down to a 1-0 defeat against Scotland, after being completely outplayed in the second half. This cannot be the sum total of German football, everybody agrees, but then, they have just lost to a country ranked No 28 in the world, having already been beaten by the United States in a friendly, and Turkey in a Euro 2000 qualifier. That cross, eagerly awaited by strikers of the calibre of Oliver Bierhoff, never came Why, no one can understand. Almost all the plausible national players were on show, including the talented gang from Bayern Munich. The manager tried them in all kinds of permutations, but still they were unable to string three decent passes together.Perhaps it is because of all that chopping and changing that the team cannot gel, argue the critics.

"There is no more time for experiments," declared Bild, the leading national tabloid. The next game, on 4 June, is a qualifier against Moldova.It is likely that Germany will win that game, just as they triumphed recently in Northern Ireland despite all the talk of a deep crisis. They will probably qualify from a weak group, but that cannot conceal the fact that German football is in trouble, with the former international Gunter Netzer laying the blame on "our lack of creative players".After the resignation of Berti Vogts last year, Germany was lumbered with Erich Ribbeck as national coach, because no one else wanted the job. To suggest that Ribbeck is not highly rated would be an understatement. But it is his unenviable task to build a new team after the old boys who represented the country at the World Cup, retired. Ribbeck must experiment, because almost none of the newcomers, ignored by Vogts and now in their late 20s, has enough experience at international level. And because he keeps changing them, none are given a real chance now.Consequently, the team is demoralised and the same papers that hounded Vogts out of his job are now clamouring for his return..

WHILE SOME of the Republic of Ireland's leading performers rested between engagements this week, their understudies took the chance to show the depth of talent available to Mick McCarthy may be greater than he realised. The bonus was to inflict a 2-0 defeat on Sweden, who, as their next Euro 2000 opponents, England, know, have performed as well as almost any country over the first half of the qualifying competition. Losing five players to injuries, agreeing to take off three more at half- time and resting another two until the last quarter of the game, McCarthy must have wondered how well the Irish would come out of Wednesday's engagement; all the more so after a first 45 minutes in which they created one scoring chance. In fact, it was once the reserves had taken centre stage that a plodding production turned into something more vibrant, with an unlikely cast list finally bringing the audience to their feet. Stoke's Graham Kavanagh, a greying 25 year-old from the Second Division, Kevin Kilbane of West Bromwich Albion and Nancy's Tony Cascarino, 36, iall won applause with their contributions. There was a welcome break too for Mark Kennedy.In defence Kenny Cunningham confirmed what McCarthy has known from their days together at Millwall, that he can play as capably in the centre as at right-back, a position Tottenham's Stephen Carr suggested he could fill in the longer term. Carr is one of those must be looking forward to the move away from Lansdowne Road's rugby pitch to Dublin's proposed new stadium.The Dublin football public clearly appreciate the quality and commitment of the squad, echoed by McCarthy when he said: "I'm so delighted at the squad that turned up here, and players coming in wanting to play, even with little knocks and niggles I really was.". BARNSLEY'S QUEST to bring the Republic of Ireland manager, Mick McCarthy, to Oakwell is on the verge of collapse over a compensation dispute.