LIKE MUCH else in life, the last European Championship finals of the century have prompted some poignant harping back to times past. Euro 96 was seen as a reprise of 66, what with revivals of the Beatles (i.e. Oasis), the mini skirt, the Labour Party and an English victory. Unexpectedly, a brief re enactment of 1990 (the World Cup semi final which England lost on penalties) in Wednesday's epic instead helped to prompt a repeat of 76. Everyone had skipped over that page of history.
As a colleague observed, last, Sunday's Sex Pistols concert and this week's tube strike in London should have forewarned everybody. The meeting of the Czech Republic and Germany is thus a repeat of the 76 final, allowing for some geographical amendments which have seen German unification and the Czech Republic's separation from Slovakia, in January 1st, 1993.
The outstanding memory of the 76 Belgrade decider was of course, Antonin Panenka's outrageously chipped, arced penalty toward the centre of the goal which made a monkey out of Sepp Maier and was a precursor for similarly irreverent imitators such as Dwight Yorke. Intriguingly, tomorrow's final offers some unlikely symmetry.
The Germans haven't been beaten in four penalty shoot outs subsequently, missing only one of 19 penalties. Uli Stielike's miss did not prevent the Germans beating France 5-4 in the 82 World Cup semi final. Since then they overcame Mexico four years later by 4-1 and England twice 4-3 in Turin six years ago and 6-5 last Wednesday night.
Even seasoned and respected observers like Ruud Gullit and Gary Lineker are at a loss to explain such consistency. Yet it is simply too good to be a mere fluke, and has its origins in the typically meticulous preparations and mental strength of German sides which makes them harder to beat than anyone in world football. It's why they are contesting their fifth European Championships final of the last seven, and 19th in the two major competitions since the 1940s.
As the dust was settling after 11.0 p.m. on Wednesday night, and keyboards clicked to meet extended deadlines among a largely distracted media corps, two revealing comments came from the German camp which served to highlight their professionalism.
Berti Vogts admitted that not only had they practised their penalty shooting again, but had decided on the order up to and beyond Andy Molter as number six. Vogts's claim to have fore warned Molter that he would score the decisive penalty may have been misconstrued in translation, but then again you wouldn't put it past him.
Then came an even more startling revelation from goalkeeper Andreas Kopke, namely that the German technical staff had studied the order and method of the English penalty takers, providing him with a detailed list of which side they favoured. Ironically, the only one he saved was when he relied on his own intuition", but the story tells, a tale.
That penalties should become a main topic of debate also says much about the prevailing equality among the Euro 96 competitors, four of the six knockout games having been decided in this unsatisfactory way. Indeed, in a tournament singularly lacking in its set piece expertise from outside the area, 41 out of 48 penalties have been converted, most of them expertly.
The chances of the German sequence coming full circle and culminating tomorrow cannot be entirely discounted. The Czechs appear to be playing in almost pressure free mode, and were they offered the 50/50 chance which a penalty shoot out affords even the underdog, they would probably gladly accept it.
This is what they played for after all against the French. Recalling their opening 2-0 defeat, to the Germans 20 days ago, they are liable to take a respectful, underdogs approach into the decider, and employ their essentially defensive approach again one lone striker, nine men behind the ball with most concentrated in the central zone outside their area.
It will be hard for the Germans to break them down. True, Germany were able to make light of Juergen Klinsmann's suspension in the opening game. However, with three other players already home (Juergen Kohler, Mario Basler and Fredi Bobic), two cruelly suspended (Molter and Stefan Reuter), and commanding defender Thomas Helmer the most serious of three more casualties from Wednesday, the Germans are looking unusually skeletal.
However the situation may have eased for them last night when UEFA announced that both Germany and the Czech Republic will be allowed to add two extra players to their squads. UEFA said that the decision has been made, with the "full support" of Frantisek Chvalovsky, the chairman of the Czech Republic Football Association.
Reports said that Rudi Voller and Karlheinz Riedle could be
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