In the wake of its brilliant second-round performance, Italy easily dispatched Poland in the first semi-final through two goals from Paolo Rossi. However, this stunning performance by the Italians was immediately overshadowed by the unforgettable confrontation between France and West Germany. After the Germans opened the scoring through an inspired Pierre Littbarski strike in the 17th minute, the French held on, equalising nine minutes later with a Michel Platini penalty. The closely fought match continued until the middle of the second half when a long through ball sent French defender Patrick Battiston racing clear towards the German goal. With both Battiston adn the lone German defender trying to be the first to reach the ball, Battiston flicked it past German keeper Harald Schumacher from the edge of the German penalty area and Schumacher reacted by jumping to block it. Schumacher missed the ball and twisted his body in mid-air to turn his front away from the impact, so that his buttocks first connected with Battiston which knocked the French player unconscious and caused two of his teeth to fall out. The ball went just wide of the post and, to the vociferous astonishment of the French, Dutch referee Charles Corver deemed Schumacher's assault on Battiston to be not a foul and awarded a goal kick. Play was interrupted for several minutes while Battiston, still unconscious, was carried off the field on a stretcher. The match went on without retaliatory violent actions, to the credit of both teams. After French defender Manuel Amoros had sent a thundering 25-metre drive crashing onto the West German crossbar in the final minute, the match went into extra time. On 92 minutes, France's sweeper Marius Trésor, in a rare attack, fired a splendid swerving volley under Schumacher's crossbar from ten metres out to make it 2-1. Six minutes later, an unmarked Alain Giresse drove in a beautiful 18-metre shot off the inside of the right post to finish off a counter-attack and put France up 3-1. But West Germany would not give up. In the 102nd minute a flowing counter-attack culminated in a cross that recent substitute Karl-Heinz Rummenigge turned in at the near post from a difficult angle with the outside of his foot, reducing France's lead to 3-2. Then in the 108th minute Germany took a short corner and after France failed to clear their lines once, the ball was played around by Germany to Littbarski whose sublime cross to Horst Hrubesch was headed back to the centre to Klaus Fischer who was unmarked thanks to Hrubesch winning his header over two defenders. Fischer in turn volleyed the ball past French keeper Jean-Luc Ettori with one of his trademark spectacular bicycle kicks, levelling the scores at 3-3 and sending the match to penalties. This goal was voted the greatest goal in the history of German football by German supporters. In penalties, Giresse, Manfred Kaltz, Manuel Amoros, Paul Breitner and Dominique Rocheteau all converted penalties until Uli Stielike was stopped by Ettori, giving France a huge advantage. But then Schumacher stepped forward, lifted the tearful Stielike from the ground, and promptly pulled off a diving stop on Didier Six's shot. With Germany handed the lifeline they needed Littbarski converted his penalty, followed by Platini for France, and then Rummenigge for Germany as the tension mounted. France defender Maxime Bossis, a pillar of strength on the left flank throughout the tournament, then had his kick parried by Schumacher who anticipated it well, and Hrubesch stepped up confidently to score and send Germany to the World Cup final yet again with a 3–3 (4–5) victory on penalties. The match is today considered the greatest ever played in the competition and one of the greatest matches all-time, with the only argument generally being Italy's epic semi-final win over West Germany in FIFA World Cup 1970. Asked years later what he thought of the game, Michel Platini replied, "For me, no book or film or play could ever recapture the way I felt that day. It was so complete, so strong and so fabulous."Coming after in the wake of Italy's spectacular quarter-final victory of the favoured Brazilians and on the heals of the monumental French-German semifinal, the final seemed anticlimactic. The Italians were fresh and confident following their easy win over Poland, but the West Germans were tired and had not recovered from the bruising epic in which they had been involved only days earlier against one the tournament's toughest teams. After a scoreless first half during which Antonio Cabrini fired a penalty wide of goal, the fresher legs of the Italians and the confidence gained from their previous two victories began to make the difference between the teams. After a deliberate foul just outside the area by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Italian central defender Claudio Gentile raced upfield to set the ball and initiate the quick restart, catching the German Goalkeeper Schumacher out of position and the German defence unprepared. Paolo Rossi scored first for the third straight game by heading home Gentile's bouncing cross at close range. Once behind, the Germans threw more men forward at the expense of defence in the hopes they could equalise quickly without having to exert too much control. This choice was problematic for them, in their tired condition, and left large gaps at the back for Italy to counter-attack. Exploiting the situation, the Azzurri scored twice more on quick counter-strikes, all the while capitalising on their best-in-the-world defence to hold the Germans. With Claudio Gentile and Gaetano Scirea of Juventus holding the centre, the Italian strikers were free to counter-punch the weakened German defence. Marco Tardelli's splendid shot from the edge of the area (and his legendary shouting and arm-pumping celebration) beat Schumacher first, and Alessandro Altobelli, the substitute for injured striker Francesco Graziani, made it 3-0 at the end of a trademark solo sprint down the right side by the stand-out winger Bruno Conti. Italy's lead appeared secure, encouraging Italian president Sandro Pertini to wag his finger at the cameras in a playful "not going to catch us now" gesture, overcoming an initial reluctance from the Italian crowd to declare victory early after West Germany's famous comeback in the semi-final. In the 83rd minute, however, Paul Breitner managed to put a small scare back into the Italians by driving home a goal against the otherwise spectacular Dino Zoff but it was never enough and Italy claimed their first World Cup title in 48 years, and their third in total with a 3-1 victory.Coming after the 1934 and 1938 victories, Italy had now drawn level with record champions Brazil. Italy's Paolo Rossi won both the Golden Boot as the tournament's top goalscorer, and the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player (handed out for the very first time), and 40-year-old captain-goalkeeper Dino Zoff became the oldest-ever player to win the World Cup. Germany would recover to reach the World Cup final again in 1986 and finally winning in 1990.In the third-place match, Poland edged an exhausted, depleted and emotionally drained French side 3-2 which matched Poland's best ever performance at a World Cup previously achieved in 1974. France would go on to win the European Championship two years later
No comments:
Post a Comment