Things can only get better for Germany

GENEVA, May 24 (Reuters) The lack of witnesses to Germany's first World Cup warm-up match in Switzerland was just as well.

Germany struggled to beat Servette Geneva 2-1 in a 70-minute practice match yesterday, with Michael Ballack and Gerald Asamoah getting the goals.

The match was played behind closed doors with no media allowed in, but assistant coach Joachim Loew was open with his criticism today.

''We've started badly,'' Loewe said. ''We played too deep and too square. That gave the opposition time to get back. We did some things well but not for the whole game.'' Loewe's only excuse was that players have hardly had the ball at their feet since leaving Germany over a week ago.

''We couldn't keep up with the tempo required,'' he said. ''Some of the players didn't have the freshness that they will have in two or three weeks. But we've really only been training with the ball on two days.'' The good news for Germany was Christoph Metzelder's return to training today. The Borussia Dortmund defender had been struggling with a calf injury.

''It went well,'' Metzelder told reporters. ''I should be back to normal next week.'' Germany will have another chance to impress tomorrow when they take on the Servette junior team.

The World Cup hosts arrived in Geneva on Sunday after a short ''regeneration'' camp in Sardinia, when the players spent more time working on their suntans than they did with the ball.

They will stay in Switzerland until May 30, apart from a brief trip back into Germany for a friendly international against Luxembourg in Freiburg on Saturday.

They have subsequent friendlies against Japan in Leverkusen on May 30 and Colombia in Moenchengladbach on June 2 before moving into their World Cup base hotel in Berlin on June 5.

Juergen Klinsmann's side play the first match of the World Cup against Costa Rica in Munich on June 9. The final is in Berlin on July 9.

Reuters PDS DB1908