Germans are 'divers' - official

Jurgen Klinsmann tried his best, but yesterday a leading official of the governing body of football worldwide gave credence to what we had suspected all along - that the Germans are the undisputed masters of diving and faking injury.

In a season with Spurs, Klinsmann did much to change the views of English spectators, but it seems his self-parodying swallow dives after scoring were just camouflage.

For in Germany's most respected football magazine, Kicker, Sepp Blatter, the Fifa general secretary, has laid bare football German-style.

"The players lose their tempers, swear at the referee and opposition, have turned the dive into an art form and fake injury," he said. "The German stars surpassed other countries in this area some time ago."

Earlier this week Fifa had threatened Germany with World Cup suspension after officials ordered matches to be replayed because of alleged refereeing mistakes. Fifa said they had disregarded the principle that "a referee's factual decisions are irrevocable".

"German referees have a hard job, especially since the German federation has deviated from Fifa rules more than once," Blatter said. "The cases have not only cost time but also caused discord and misunderstandings and set off a course of events that will be even more difficult to stop. Germany is a country of perfectionism. But even perfectionists must come to terms with human error."