( dpa ) - Jens Lehmann should retire from the national team after Euro 2008 to give way for a younger Germany goalkeeper, German football icon Franz Beckenbauer said in an interview published on Sunday.
"Such a tournament is always an opportunity to quit and to allow a new era to start. I would tell Jens to retire after Euro to give younger men a chance to play," said Beckenbauer.
Lehmann, 38, has been Germany's number one between the posts since 2006. He has so far not spoken about his national team future after Euro 2008, where Germany were due to open their campaign later Thursday against Poland.
Hanover's Robert Enke, 30, and Bayer Leverkusen's 22-year-old Rene Adler are the other German goalkeepers at Euro.
Lehmann has signed a one-year contract for the next season at Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart in a return to Germany from England's Arsenal, but Beckenbauer expressed his doubts "whether he will still be ambitious to play in goal (at the World Cup) in 2010."