Sex tougher than soccer, claim prostitutes

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- The reputation of German football has hit a new low after sex workers criticised a leading coach for comparing them to the nation's under-performing players.

With the three-time world champions in danger of missing out on next year's World Cup finals, Eduard Geyer, the controversial coach of Bundesliga side Energie Cottbus, on Saturday drew comparison between Germany's young stars and the prostitutes of the notorious St. Pauli district of Hamburg.

"There are players whose view of performance is like the whores of St. Pauli," said Geyer. "All they do is smoke cigarettes, drink too much and sleep around."

But prostitutes on St. Pauli's Reeperbahn told German newspaper Bild they worked harder than footballers.

"Geyer should send his boys over here to see how hard we work," said Vanessa, a non-drinking 21-year-old who stays in shape with the help of a rigorous weight-training programme.

"They could learn a thing or two from us. I work 12 to 14 hours every day, sometimes two weeks straight without a day off."

"Our job is a lot harder than theirs," agreed another prostitute, Lady Gina, 35.

Geyer, 57, was the last coach of the former East German national team and is known as a strict disciplinarian. Under his guidance, and with a core of well-drilled eastern European players, Cottbus have been one of the few East German sides to gain promotion to the top division of the Bundesliga.

However, despite reaching a respectable ninth in the table, even Geyer's own players came in for harsh criticism after Saturday' s 3-2 defeat by third-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

"They have to push themselves to the limits. That's what I expect. But I still haven't seen anybody vomiting in the changing room," he said.

But Kalle Schwensen, a community worker in St. Pauli, told Bild: "If Geyer's team were in as good condition as the whores of St. Pauli they'd be in first place in the Bundesliga."

Germany, which has played in every World Cup since 1954, finished second on goal difference to England in its qualifying group and must beat Ukraine in a two-legged playoff next month to reach the finals in the Far East.