Poland and Germany find unity in rivalry (FT)

The most appealing football games to fans are often those unloved by security officials. So it is with Germany against Poland, tonight in Dortmund.

The difficult history between the two countries gives the match an extra edge. Indeed, the notoriety of Polish hooligans has meant this has long been one of the top priorities among police. Signs from Neo-Nazis have made the problem explicit: "We defeated Poland in 1939 in 28 days. Today it will take 90 minutes," one says.

But talk to fans and political analysts and a much different picture emerges - one of German-Polish rivalry certainly, but where the old historical worries are no longer relevant. Far more important is the football - and for Poland, who lost in their first game with a terrible performance against Ecuador, the game "is nothing less than a final", says midfielder Jacek Krzynowek.

On the tram back from Friday's 2-0 defeat to Ecuador, Polish fans were despondent. "We played like idiots - I cannot explain it," said Michal from just outside Warsaw. But on Germany as a country he and his tearful comrades were unanimous: "All that was 60 years ago - there is animosity today, but on the football pitch only."

In Poland, the match carries none of the wartime echoes that are so common in the British press whenever England plays Germany. "There is no such attitude of linking the war to the game," says Marek Sarjusz-Wolski, editor of Unia & Polska, a magazine on European issues. "I see no danger, even if the Poles lose, and they will unfortunately lose, that the game will have any impact on relations."

Hundreds of thousands of Poles live and work in Germany, and many German companies, such as MAN, the truckmaker, have invested in Poland. According to a recent poll, 80 per cent of Poles believe that reconciliation with Germany is possible, while only 69 per cent thought the same was feasible with Russia. In 1990, half of Poles thought it would be impossible to reconcile with Germany, which is now judged the third most friendly country to Poland, behind the US and the UK, but ahead of France.

Politically, there are some tensions - notably over a gas pipeline and the issue of whether Germans expelled from Poland after the war should gain compensation - but such concerns will not matter to the tens of thousands of red-and-white clad fans expected in Dortmund. "That was why the World Cup was invented, so that our warriors meet on the football pitch and not on the battlefield," says Mr Sarjusz-Wolski.

On the pitch, the odds seem stacked in Germany's favour. Poland played against Ecuador without any inspiration and the threat is that they could buckle versus a German team that loves to rampage forward.

Much of the discussion in Germany before the match has centred on "Our Calf", as the German press calls it (when Josef Ratzinger was elected Pope, the Bildtabloid ran a headline "We are Pope"). Just as Wayne Rooney's injury has preoccupied the English, a much less serious (calf) injury to captain Michael Ballack has prompted a bout of national hand-wringing and raised questions about unity in the German camp.

Ballack is Germany's one clear star. His form has been variable this year but he remains capable of turning a game.

What has really been convulsing Germany, though, is the suggestion that Ballack and coach Jürgen Klinsmann are not seeing eye to eye. The usually reticent Ballack first criticised Klinsmann's tactics as overly favouring attack and being too naïve - a charge that finds much favour among Germans more used to seeing their team grind out 1-0 victories rather than 4-2 thrillers. Then, shortly before Friday's opening victory against Costa Rica, Ballack declared himself fit to play to Bild - a long-time hater of Klinsmann - despite the coach having already ruled him out.

Klinsmann prevailed but worries persist that captain and coach are pulling in different directions. Germany's three previous titles have all been achieved with strong captain-manager relationships from Sepp Herberger and Fritz Walter in 1954, to Helmut Schön and Franz Beckenbauer in 1970 and Beckenbauer and Lotthar Matthäus in 1990.

The Poles would probably love to have such problems. Krzynowek says theymust avoid beating themselves up too much over the Ecuador display.

"We must not talk ourselves down," he said. "In qualification [where they nearly secured top spot of their group ahead of England] we were strong enough. We just have toforget Ecuador and put everything into this match."

The German-Polish rivalry is perhaps best summed up by the fact that the home side's two starting centre-forwards were both born in Poland. Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski - who says the game "will be the most emotional of my life" - both moved to Germany in their childhood.

Michal, the Polish fan, says: "They should be playing for us - it would just be our luck that one of them scores against us to sendus home."