Germany

Germany scored three goals in a five-minute span of the second half yesterday to rout Russia, 7-1, in the quarterfinals of the Women's World Cup last night. The Germans, who have outscored their World Cup competition by 20-3 while going 4-0, play the United States in the semifinals on Sunday, also at Portland's PGE Park. Birgit Prinz and Kerstin Garefrekes each scored twice for Germany, which had six second-half goals. Sandra Minnert began Germany's goal flurry with a header off a corner kick by Stefanie Gottsclich that made it 2-0 in the 57th minute.

BOCHUM, Germany - Although France and host Germany qualified for the Women's World Cup quarterfinals yesterday, only one team was celebrating before the two meet to decide which tops Group A. France eliminated Canada with a resounding 4-0 victory to advance for the first time, while Germany stumbled over the line with a hard-fought, 1-0 win over Nigeria. Like Canada in the earlier game, Nigeria needed at least a point to stay in the tournament, and its players were given extra incentive with their regular match bonus doubled if they managed to beat the tournament host.

Germany issued six stamps Wednesday, including a commemorative on the famous Rendsburg Railway Bridge that spans the Kiel Canal. The 100-pfennig stamp, which continues Germany's significant-bridge series, depicts the bridge, also called a viaduct, which was considered a technical marvel when completed in 1913. In addition to the regular denomination of 100 pfennigs, the stamp is printed with the corresponding value in 51 euros. Other European nations also are including the euro values on stamps to prepare their people for the conversion to euros on Jan. 1, 2002.

After crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary in February 1945 with 15,000 other soldiers, I went into combat as a rifleman in Germany. Within a month, I was wounded, and spent a month in a hospital in Paris. Then I spent time in various cities in occupied Germany. After VJ Day, I arrived in Stolberg, Germany. Very soon I met a lovely German girl, Mary, and we became very close. I was 19, and she was 17. But in mid-1946, after I had spent four months in Stolberg, it was my turn to return to the United States to be discharged.

On a great day for women's soccer, it was a good day for Europe's teams. The Women's World Cup started yesterday with two stadiums overflowing with goodwill, color and the cheer of nearly 100,000 fans. There were also four goals, including one stunner. Germany, the host and two-time defending champion, survived opening-game jitters to beat Canada, 2-1, in Berlin and showed that it will be the team to beat. "It is fantastic," said Germany's No. 1 fan in the stands, chancellor Angela Merkel.

Just 10 years ago, the German unions were a source of power in the country's economy, setting the European standard for wages and work time, putting politicians into office. Now, the nation's seven unions are crippled, having lost clout and members. That's because Germany's once-thriving economy has faltered and its unions are losing ground as they face issues long familiar to unions in the United States: How do unions push for worker-friendly policies in government and on the job when the economy has soured?

Just as the deutsche mark nears the end of its existence, Germany has struck its first gold coin in 86 years, a replica of the circulating one-mark piece. Germany, like other European Union nations, will change to the euro next year. The new coin will be identical in size to the mark but will be struck from 0.999 pure gold. The words on the reverse of the circulating mark, Deutsche Bundesbank, will be replaced by Bundesrepublik Deutschland, a reminder that Germany exists even after European currencies are merged in the euro.

AFTER THE WALL Germany, the Germans and the Burdens of History By Marc Fisher Simon & Schuster. 350 pp. $25 Marc Fisher's After the Wall promises a book-length take on recent Germany by the Washington Post's Bonn and Berlin bureau chief from 1989 to 1993. As such, it adds to a checkered, yet hallowed genre, the valedictory book by a returned American foreign correspondent. Like many books by journalists, "FCVs" receive disproportionate review attention from other journalists, beneficiaries of the false principle that if a book treats a subject prominent in the news, it must be high-priority news to book people (in fact, book people are more likely to care about a fresh translation of Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities than, say, another second-rate book about politics)

Venus Williams hammered fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-3, 6-0, yesterday in Hamburg, Germany, to capture the Betty Barclay Cup in her first tournament since winning the Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., a month ago. Williams has a chance in the French Open later this month to pass Martina Hingis and become the world's top female player. Andy Roddick overpowered South Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee, 7-5, 6-3, to win his second title in as many weeks at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston.

Albert Hodkinson told me to watch for him. He'd be in the second group marching, the one forming at Downing Street behind the first brigade, which was the seriously wounded from World War II. He was tall, he said, and he would be wearing an English cap. He was in London again this year, as he'd come back for so many years, to march in the Remembrance Day parade with - as he put it - "the lads. " Albert Hodkinson, retired engineer and now U.S. citizen living in Philadelphia, was once a navigator in the British Bomber Command, Royal Air Force.

THERE'S AN an old saying that behind every great man is a great woman. Apart from its obvious sexist slant, there was considerable truth to the maxim in the case of former Pennsylvania Chief Justice Robert N.C. Nix Jr. and his wife, German-born Renate Elizabeth Nix. "She was very supportive of him," said her daughter, Kimberly Bernhard. "She was the backup. " She traveled with her husband on his many trips on judicial business, took care of the entertainment, and generally helped ease the burdens of his presiding over the state's highest court.

Lionel Messi became the first player to score five goals in a Champions League game as Barcelona thrashed visiting Bayer Leverkusen, 7-1, Wednesday for the defending champions to ease into the quarterfinals. Barcelona already led by 3-1 after the first leg and the world player of the year put the result beyond doubt by scoring twice in the first half. Messi, 24, added three more after the break, while substitute Cristian Tello added a brace. Messi, who took his overall season tally to 48 goals, is only the fourth player to score five goals in a European Cup match - and first since the 1979-80 season.

Katie Uhlaender has given the United States its second gold medal at the skeleton world championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., since the women's competition debuted in 2000. Uhlaender, of Breckenridge, Colo., finished the four heats over two days at Mount Van Hoevenberg in 3 minutes, 42.33 seconds. She beat Mellisa Hollingsworth of Canada by 0.17 seconds on Friday. Uhlaender also won silver at worlds in 2008 in Altenberg, Germany, and bronze the previous year in St. Moritz, Switzerland, when teammate Noelle Pikus-Pace won. Elizabeth Yarnold of Britain took the bronze, 0.36 behind and just ahead of teammate Shelley Rudman , the World Cup champion.

ELZ, Germany - Every summer, Volkmar and Vera Kruger spend three weeks vacationing in the south of France or at a cool getaway in Denmark. For the three other weeks of their annual vacation, they garden or travel a few hours away to root for their favorite team in Germany's biggest soccer stadium. The couple, in their early 50s, aren't retired or well-off. They live in a small Tudor-style house in this middle-class town about 30 miles northwest of Frankfurt. He's a foreman at a glass factory; she works part time for a company that tracks inventories for retailers.

Venus Williams returned from a five-month layoff, and Serena Williams and Christina McHale won singles matches Sunday in Worcester, Mass., sending the U.S. team past Belarus, 5-0, in the first round of the Fed Cup. By blanking Belarus in World Group II, the Americans head to a playoff in April in hopes of playing their way back into the top tier of the Fed Cup after getting bounced last year. Tomas Berdych won his seventh career title, beating defending champion Gael Monfils , 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, in the Open Sud de France final in Montpellier.

A career milestone and a rare family reunion. All of which left Lindsey Vonn in tears, and it made for a perfect day in Garmisch-Parten-Kirchen, Germany. Vonn captured her 50th World Cup victory Saturday, winning the downhill on the demanding Kandahar course with temperatures plunging to minus 13. "Fifty World Cup wins is a huge mark for me in my career and more than I even thought possible. I just wanted the 50th win," Vonn said. Few skiers reach the 50-win landmark.

Michael Shank Racing pulled off a stunning win in Sunday's Rolex 24 at Daytona, with NASCAR driver A.J. Allmendinger behind the wheel of the team's No. 60 Ford-Riley during the final stint. Allmendinger shared driving duties with Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series regulars Ozz Negri and John Pew , as well as IndyCar Series driver Justin Wilson in the 50th anniversary of the 24-hour endurance race at Daytona International Speedway in Florida. Allmendinger crossed the finish line 5.2 seconds ahead of Starworks Motorsports' No. 8 Ford-Riley, driven by Ryan Dalziel during the last hours.

BRUSSELS - One of the defining images of Europe's two-year-old debt crisis is that of the French and German leaders, side by side on a podium presenting their latest strategy for the continent. But the underlying message of this image - former foes presenting a united front as the 17 countries that use the euro face their biggest crisis since World War II - may now be under threat. Standard & Poor's downgrade Friday of France's creditworthiness to AA+ leaves Germany as the only large eurozone economy with a AAA-rating, making it the one country that will have to shoulder the currency union's rescue efforts.

BERLIN - For more than a half-century, the legacy of World War II has meant the mere mention of a new rise of German power sent shudders through European nations. Now, Germany is increasingly calling the shots for the entire continent and few seem to mind. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski - whose nation lost millions of people in the Nazi invasion and occupation - shocked many the other day when he made a dramatic appeal for greater German influence. "You know full well that nobody else can do it," he told a largely German audience in Berlin.

Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland ended the United States' 11-year drought in golf's World Cup by shooting a 5-under 67 on Sunday to win by 2 strokes in Hainan, China. The American pair fired six birdies in the alternate-shot final round at Mission Hills Blackstone course to finish at 24-under, 264 overall, notching the 24th U.S. win in the history of the tournament. English pair Ian Poulter and Justin Rose had the final day's best round with a 63 to tie for second at 22-under with Germany's Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka (69)