Canada To Play Germany June 1

Ottawa, Ontario – The Canadian Soccer Association today announced its Men’s World Cup Team will face Germany in an international friendly on June 1, 2003 in Wolfsburg, Germany.



The two teams had reached a tentative agreement to face each other on November 6, 2001, but had to cancel those plans when Germany finished second in their World Cup Qualifying group and were required to play Ukraine for a spot at the World Cup. The Germans went on to reach the final which they lost 2-0 to Brazil.



“It’s a great honor for us to be invited,” said Canadian head coach Holger Osieck. “They kept their promise to host us in a game and I think it’s a great challenge for everyone to go there.”



Canada has faced Germany only once in their history, back on June 8, 1994 when the Germans posted a 2-0 win at Varsity Stadium in Toronto as part of their preparation for the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Ironically it was current German head coach Rudi Völler who scored one of the goals that day. Mattias Sammer scored the other.



Voller will use the game against Canada to help prepare his side for their European Qualifying games against Scotland (June 7) and the Faroe Islands (June 11).



It will be a sort of homecoming for Osieck who spent several years (1979-1990) working with the DFB (German Football Federation) and was Franz Beckenbauer’s assistant when Germany won the World Cup in 1990, with Völler one of their key players.



It will be Germany’s first international in Wolfsburg, where they will play at the 30,000-capacity Volkswagen-Arena, which was opened last month.



Canada’s next opponent is Libya on February 12th in Tripoli, followed by a game in Estonia on March 29.