Car workers get early night to watch football
German car makers are closing early on Friday so workers can catch the Euro 2012 quarter final where Germany plays Greece, with more promising the same if the team progresses in the tournament.
Opel, Volkswagen and Daimler will let some plants shut up shop early, allowing employees working the late shift on Friday to leave at 7 pm instead of 9 pm so they can make the match, Die Welt newspaper said on Thursday.
But BMW staff will not be so lucky, as the company said demand was so high that time off was not an option. But if the German team were to get through to the next round, bosses said they would consider letting employees leave early to watch the semi-final.
For the fortunate ones who have been granted the evening off, the match is set to be a tense one – particularly as competition host Ukraine dropped out after denied an equalising goal against England.
The move has revived calls for goal line technology to be introduced – something Germany midfielders Sami Khedira and Thomas Müller are also supporting.
Germany face Greece in Friday's Euro 2012 quarter-finals in Gdansk and the pair both said they hope the sport sees goal line technology introduced sooner rather than later.
On Wednesday, Sepp Blatter, the president of Football's world governing body FIFA, tweeted: "After last night's match (goal line technology) is no longer an alternative, but a necessity."
Ukraine exited following their 1-0 defeat to England on Tuesday as the co-hosts were denied a second-half equaliser when the referee Viktor Kassai waved on play although replays showed Marko Devic's shot had crossed the line.
As part of an experiment, this is the first European championship to have an assistant referee behind each goal, but that plainly did not help the Ukrainians.
The disallowed goal in Donetsk did not affect the line-up for the Euro 2012 quarter-finals as England and France qualified even though the Swedes beat the French 2-0 in Kiev.
Greece may have won the European Championships more recently than Germany - but in terms of honours, few sides in football can hold a candle to the Mannschaft, who have been European champions three times and finished runners-up on the same number of occasions.
On the biggest stage, Germany have been world champions three times and have the best record in World Cup history, having finished in the top four no fewer than 12 times, eclipsing even five-times winners Brazil and four-times winners Italy.
That compares to a solitary Euro 2004 win for Greece and only two appearances in the World Cup finals.
AFP/The Local/jcw
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Opel, Volkswagen and Daimler will let some plants shut up shop early, allowing employees working the late shift on Friday to leave at 7 pm instead of 9 pm so they can make the match, Die Welt newspaper said on Thursday.
But BMW staff will not be so lucky, as the company said demand was so high that time off was not an option. But if the German team were to get through to the next round, bosses said they would consider letting employees leave early to watch the semi-final.
For the fortunate ones who have been granted the evening off, the match is set to be a tense one – particularly as competition host Ukraine dropped out after denied an equalising goal against England.
The move has revived calls for goal line technology to be introduced – something Germany midfielders Sami Khedira and Thomas Müller are also supporting.
Germany face Greece in Friday's Euro 2012 quarter-finals in Gdansk and the pair both said they hope the sport sees goal line technology introduced sooner rather than later.
On Wednesday, Sepp Blatter, the president of Football's world governing body FIFA, tweeted: "After last night's match (goal line technology) is no longer an alternative, but a necessity."
Ukraine exited following their 1-0 defeat to England on Tuesday as the co-hosts were denied a second-half equaliser when the referee Viktor Kassai waved on play although replays showed Marko Devic's shot had crossed the line.
As part of an experiment, this is the first European championship to have an assistant referee behind each goal, but that plainly did not help the Ukrainians.
The disallowed goal in Donetsk did not affect the line-up for the Euro 2012 quarter-finals as England and France qualified even though the Swedes beat the French 2-0 in Kiev.
Greece may have won the European Championships more recently than Germany - but in terms of honours, few sides in football can hold a candle to the Mannschaft, who have been European champions three times and finished runners-up on the same number of occasions.
On the biggest stage, Germany have been world champions three times and have the best record in World Cup history, having finished in the top four no fewer than 12 times, eclipsing even five-times winners Brazil and four-times winners Italy.
That compares to a solitary Euro 2004 win for Greece and only two appearances in the World Cup finals.
AFP/The Local/jcw
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