(Saturday, June 27, 1998) -- Coach Berti Vogts said today that Germany was missing the inspiration of libero Matthias Sammer.

Regarded as the best German sweeper since Franz Beckenbauer, he was the key man behind the national team's victory at the 1996 European Championship. The Dortmund player has struggled with a serious knee injury in the last season. After several operations, he was not fit enough to come to France.

"It hurts not having Matthias Sammer," Vogts said. "He has the instinct to do the right thing.

On the eve of Monday's second-round match against underdog Mexico, he said: "We have been solid at the back, and the wingbacks are getting better. But the midfield is not working so well. We are working on it. The strikers have lived up to expectations. "We could never play like Brazil but no German team has ever played like that. We have to get into space. Perhaps it's the pressure."

Vogts decided against bringing Bayern Munich midfielders Mehmet Scholl and Mario Basler to the World Cup, two players who have the ability to turn a match with a piece of inspiration.

Outbreaks of hooliganism by English and German fans in France should not affect those nations' bids to hold the 2006 World Cup, world soccer governing body FIFA president Sepp Blatter said today.

"The incidents with the hooligans on one side (England), and these practically terrorist acts on the other side (Germany), shall not have any influence on the teams, or any influence on the bid activities of the English and German associations for the 2006 World Cup," he said.

English hooligans were involved in rioting in Marseille at England's match against Tunisia on June 15, while German thugs fought with police when Germany played Yugoslavia in Lens last Sunday. One policeman is in a coma with irreversible brain damage following an assault by Germans suspects, two of whom are in custody.

Blatter said that as well as South Africa's declared interest in staging the 2006 tournament, bids were also expected from Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco. Brazil and Argentina are also known to be considering a joint bid for the finals.

Japan and South Korea will co-host the 2002 World Cup.

In another matter. Blatter said he sympathized with fans who had been duped in ticket scams but said FIFA could do nothing to help, not even in cases involving one of its licensed ticket outlets, Prime Sports International. The president of the U.S.-based company, Douglas Knittle, has been placed under investigation by French authorities for alleged fraud involving some 15,000 missing tickets, judicial sources told Reuters.

FIFA turned down a Nigerian protest about the referee appointed for Sunday's second-round match with Denmark -- but changed him anyway. The African nation complained that the official, Jose Maria Garcia Aranda of Spain, was European and should not referee a match involving a European team.

FIFA's referees' committee decided to bring in Urs Meier of Switzerland but said it had done so before hearing from Nigeria. Nigerian official Charles Ojugbana told Reuters: "We are not saying that it's wrong to have a Spanish referee to officiate the game after we had played Spain but it's wrong to have a European referee in a game where a European team is playing."