Jens Lehmann - International Career

International Career

Lehmann made his debut for the national team against Oman in February 1998 and has since earned 61 caps for his country, most of which were friendlies. He had a well-publicised rivalry with former Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn whose presence long prevented Lehmann from becoming the number one goalkeeper of the German national team. He was in the squad runners-up of World Cup 2002, but he didn't play any single match in the competition as Oliver Kahn was still at best performances in club and as number one of the German national team. On 7 April 2006, however, German national coach Jürgen Klinsmann announced that Lehmann would be Germany's first-choice goalkeeper for the upcoming World Cup.

Lehmann conceded two goals in Germany's opening match of the World Cup, both scored by Costa Rica's Paulo Wanchope although Germany won the match 4–2. Lehmann played strongly in the next three games, conceding no goals and allowing Germany to sweep their group undefeated and beat Sweden convincingly in the Round of 16.

The highlight of Lehmann's international career came in the quarterfinal match (30 June 2006, Olympiastadion, Berlin) against Argentina. The game remained tied 1–1 after 90 minutes and extra time. The game came down to penalty kicks and Lehmann carried his team through. He made two critical saves of Argentinian penalty kicks, one from Roberto Ayala and another from Esteban Cambiasso. He managed to pick the right direction for all the penalties, and came close to saving a third. Meanwhile, the Germans made all 4 of the necessary penalties to win the penalty shoot-out 4–2. Lehmann's prowess in the shootout was aided by notes given to him before the kicks – an idea from Germany's chief scout, Swiss-born Urs Siegenthaler – with Lehmann keeping the paper in his right sock. Before the last shot from Cambiasso, Lehmann looked at the paper for a long time even though Cambiasso's name was not even on it. The story around the paper features in the film Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen. Lehmann was considered a hero by the German public after these saves, and he received praise even from long-time rival Oliver Kahn.

Germany's opponent in the semifinals was Italy. The Italians had the better chances to score but Lehmann made several spectacular saves, including one in extra time where he dived out of goal to intercept an Italian player who had broken loose from the defence, punching the ball clear with his fist and temporarily knocking out the Italian in the process. He allowed two goals within a minute of each other with only a few seconds remaining in overtime, which put Italy into the World Cup final. The retiring Oliver Kahn was given the honour of starting in the third place play-off match, an offer made by Lehmann himself. Kahn was made captain for that game.

In August 2006, Lehmann revealed that during the World Cup he was suffering with a foot injury that he claims was a result of wearing different boots. The German Football Association ordered their players to wear only those manufactured by principal sponsor Adidas as opposed to Lehmann's sponsor Nike. This has now been overturned thanks to Lehmann and several other players protesting about the decision and the players are now free to wear boots made by other companies.

In August 2006, Lehmann suggested that he may retire from league and international football after playing for Germany in Euro 2008. However, he subsequently stated in January 2007 that he had not made any decision on retirement.

Lehmann set a national team record of not conceding a goal for 681 minutes in a friendly against Switzerland on 26 March 2008.

On 8 August 2008, Lehmann announced his retirement from international football. He made his decision following a two-hour talk with the German national team's coach Joachim Löw and goalkeeping coach Andreas Köpke, stating that he was not able to give them any guarantee that he will continue to play football following the end of his one-year contract with VfB Stuttgart in June 2009. He has since retired and is as of 2012 working towards his full FIFA coaching license at Arsenal.