Spitting mad Voller's day for revenge

"There was a moment when I thought Rudi was going to punch him, or something like that, and that it could easily have all got out of control but, thankfully, he didn't really know how to react because he didn't really believe what was going on."

What was going on was an episode that, 14 years on, still symbolises a footballing rivalry with a rare old edge, one that transports Euro 2004 here to Porto tonight with a familiar mix of anticipation and trepidation. Germany versus Holland, the old heavyweight collision between the artisans and the artists, should always come packaged with a health warning.

The celebrated spit after the spat came in Milan in the 1990 World Cup second round after both were sent off for scuffling. Klinsmann went on to score - and Germany win - yet what football still remembers most is the scrap. "You know, Frank and Rudi are totally fine about it these days. Frank always said afterwards that he was so up for the game that it somehow took him over the edge. But it's funny how the images just stay there, telling the story of this great rivalry."

Klinsmann, talking while over here from his Los Angeles base acting as one of Mastercard's ambassadors at the tournament, remembered as a child watching this rivalry begin when the beautiful Dutch side of Johann Cruyff lost the 1974 World Cup Final to Franz Beckenbauer's more prosaic bunch.

In Holland, it was seen as the crime of the century, just as the triumph of Marco van Basten and co over the Germans in Hamburg in the 1988 European Championship semi-final was later seen as the sweetest revenge, prompting the biggest street parties in the Netherlands since the liberation of 1945.

That date was not accidental. In truth, this rivalry has always meant more in Holland than in Germany. To the Dutch, with long, painful memories of the war, it has always been about national identity and national pride more than football.

In pure sporting terms, tonight's edition follows a classic plot. "It's the old story," said Klinsmann. "Put down all the names of the German team compared to the Dutch. They've got Van Nistelrooy, Makaay, Seedorf, Stam, Davids. Kluivert can't even get in the team. Who do we have? Ballack. So you'd say there was no chance for us."

So why does he still believe yet another fantastically ordinary-looking German side, who were recently embarrassed 5-1 by Romania, will prevail in this Euro 2004 group where, in theory, they should finish third behind the Dutch and the Czech Republic?

"Well, right now, I can tell you the guys in the team are getting destroyed by the German press and yet none of them gives a crap about what's being said. I know it won't affect them. It's part of an old mentality that we can deal with the pressure; it doesn't bother us.

"I know from my playing days that some of our players actually needed that sort of pressure, otherwise we got bored a bit. These guys have got pressure. Lose against Holland and they're just about going home. Yet, somehow, Germany handles high expectations."

Which is more, of course, than can be said for Holland, whose teams have so often never achieved as much as their dazzling individual components promised they should. This year's preparations have taken on a familiar hue with suggestions of squad discontent, player power and disagreement over tactics.

"I think Germany are a very unstable team," said Dutch captain Phillip Cocu, immediately racing into the lead in the pot-and-black-kettle stakes.

Just before the tournament, Co Adriaanse, coach of Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, insisted the Dutch would never win a title while Dick Advocaat was in charge because he was afraid to take risks.

Advocaat would not admit to being stung but after frank talks with four of his senior players - Cocu, Frank de Boer, Edgar Davids and Ruud van Nistelrooy - he decided to change from the 4-4-2 system, which has not worked, to a 4-3-3 formation in which Van Nistelrooy effectively leads the attack alone. Advocaat insisted it was "not a discussion but a monologue". His critics were unconvinced.

Whatever the dynamics of the decision, now Van Nistelrooy has beaten the old favourite Patrick Kluivert to the spot, all the pressure is on him to deliver. "I'm happy to have the opportunity to show people what I can do," said the Manchester United man yesterday. "I thrive on the pressure."

An old German hero, though, fancies his successors will thrive on it even more eagerly.