Here's a link to photos of the Glückauf-Kampfbahn: Link Here's a link to photos of Stadion Rote Erde: Link
I'm saying nothing, but out of curiosity, which of the two games that season were you thinking of? I regret that I didn't ask you to come up with a list of games before the project, your input could have been useful.
Thanks for the pics! Would be interesting to see pics from the 1950s and 1960s, to get the atmosphere when they were still used as football grounds.
Unfortunately my scanner software is down, otherwise I could upload a number of great actions pics from these games. It would really add a bit of liveliness to the whole affair. Step-over is the word. Of couse I meant to say they didn't get that close again for almost 30 years. They got a tad closer to winning the title in 2001, as we all remember.
I agree. They remind me of Ghost towns in a way, desolate yet intriguing. I always imagine them in the past, crammed with spectators (especially since the majority of the stadia was standing terraces).
Rank # 87 1. FC Köln 3 1. FC Nürnberg 0 Place: Köln, Müngersdorfer Stadion Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Date: 7 June 1969 Attendance: 53,028 Referee: Horstmann (Hildesheim) Goal Scorers: 1-0 Overath 51 2-0 Rühl 77 3-0 Hornig 84 Commentary: This is the first relegation thriller featured in this countdown and it had to be included due to the far-reaching consequences the result of this game had on 1970s football. Nürnberg had been crowned champions in the previous season, but their manager Max Merkel made a crucial mistake by re-modelling his victorious team for the new season, making numerous changes to the successful squad which didn’t benefit the team at all. Before the last game of the season, they only found themselves avoiding relegation safely by winning away at Cologne, another team that was facing relegation. In order to play it safely, Cologne too needed to win. There were two other clubs trying to avoid relegation, Dortmund and Offenbach, and fate wanted it that these two teams were facing each other as well at the last day! Before the last matchday, Cologne stood at 30 points, Nürnberg at 29, Dortmund and Offenbach both at 28. With Cologne, Dortmund and Nürnberg, three top teams that nobody before the season would have expected to get into such trouble, were at the edge of relegation. “Relegation” back in the 1960s was a far more serious danger than it is today, as there was no second Bundesliga but only the old regional leagues. In these regional leagues, amateurism was still overly prevalent. For big clubs like Cologne and Dortmund, a relegation to the regional league would have been an outright catastrophe (it wasn’t until 1974 that the DFB eventually established a nationwide professional second division). Other implications affected the players of these top teams. At Cologne, Wolfgang Overath would probably have remained loyal to his club if it had been relegated, however the 1970 World Cup was looming in the next year and Overath didn’t fancy playing in the regional league during the World Cup season, especially since he found himself in a fierce duel with Gladbach’s Günter Netzer for a place in the German midfield. Other teammates like Hannes Löhr, Wolfgang Weber and Heinz Flohe shared that dilemma and at Dortmund, Siegfried Held and Willi Neuberger. Nürnberg had Georg ‘Schorsch’ Volkert and Ludwig ‘Luggi’ Müller hoping for a place in the 1970 World Cup squad. There had been talks with other clubs in case one or two of the top clubs would get relegated and it looked as if Overath was about to join Bayern Munich and Ludwig ‘Luggi’ Müller was set to join Gladbach in case Nürnberg would get relegated. If Overath had joined Bayern in 1969, the ‘what ifs…’ are fairly far-reaching. For a start, Bayern may have won the 1970 championship if they had a player of Overath’s calibre in midfield (Bayern were struggling in midfield as their playmaker of the previous season, Austrian Gustl Starek, was injured most of the year). Also, if Overath had played for Bayern, Günter Netzer may have found it a lot harder to overtake Overath’s place in the German national team in 1971 and 1972, for a Bayern player’s place in the national team was a more safe affair than that of a Cologne player’s. In that case the heart of Germany’s 1972 European Championship team (Netzer) would not have been there, and without Netzer, maybe some of the other Gladbach players (Wimmer, Heynckes) may not have found a regular place in the team as well. And perhaps Bayern, with a world class midfielder like Wolfgang Overath commanding their midfield, would have had a better shot at winning the European Cup in 1969-70 and 1972-73 (where they exited in the first round and the quarterfinal, respectively), the Cup Winners Cup in 1971-72 or the UEFA Cup in 1970-71. If Nürnberg had stayed in the Bundesliga, Gladbach would never have got the chance to sign Nürnberg’s center back ace Luggi Müller, who proved to be very instrumental in stabilizing Gladbach’s shaky defense the coming season. It would have been much harder for Gladbach to win the Bundesliga in 1969-70 without Müller at the helm in the back, they arguably wouldn’t have won it. Thus this game must rate as one of the single most important ones in the history of the Bundesliga, the outcome possessing a magnitude on a historic scale rarely witnessed before or since. Nürnberg was the better team in the first half, combining convincingly in the midfield, but their strikers Volkert, Nüssing and Cebinac couldn’t find the goal net. Nürnberg tried to break Cologne’s defense with dangerous 1-2s but center back Wolfgang Weber and goalie Rolf Birkhölzer were reliable. Overall the impression was the Nürnberg was more courageous, less fearful of failing. The crowd even started to whistle at Cologne after half an hour! Ten minutes before the break Cologne’s strikers finally woke up, Rühl missing the goal only sharply, Hornig and Löhr missing good opportunities. Now it was Luggi Müller and goalie Jürgen Rynio that showed their class. The second half began with an even more determined offensive by Nürnberg, their linkmen Klaus Zaczyk and Hans Küppers moving up front time and again but to no avail. Cologne’s relieving first goal in the 51st minute thus came rather surprisingly, with celebrations of the Cologne crowd going overboard after the nerve-wrecking first half. Simmet had crossed the ball into the penalty box, addressing his skipper Overath, but at first he couldn’t control the ball, Overath and Nürnberg’s Heinz Müller both went down, but Overath got up quickly again, standing with his back to the Nürnberg goal when he turnt around and shot the ball into the net. Now Nürnberg had to play even more aggressively and they did just that, but luck was not on their side. 14 minutes before time, Cologne almost scored the second goal but Leupold cleared the ball of the goalline, Cologne’s fans watching in horror. Yet just a minute later, one of Cologne’s many counter attacks was initiated by Karl-Heinz Simmet who passed forward to Overath at inside right, who shortly looked and then hit a well-measured cross into the box, where Carlheinz Rühl headed the ball into the angle of the goal, Luggi Müller, Horst Leupold and Jürgen Rynio watching in horror. Now Nürnberg needed to score three goals in the remaining 13 minutes, a hopeless endeavour. Six minutes before the final whistle, a cross by Jendrossek found Heinz Hornig and the tiny outside left scored the third goal with a tremendous shot. The game was decided, Nürnberg was beaten and relegated. In the other relegation battle, Dortmund disposed off Offenbach 3-0, thus Offenbach was the second team to be relegated. While Offenback managed instant promotion after one year of regional league, for Nürnberg a sad decade started in which they often came close to promotion but never quite achieving it. It took them nine years trying to get out of first the regional league then the southern divsion of second Bundesliga. ----------------------1. FC Köln -----------------------Birkhölzer ----Thielen-----Biskup------Weber---Hemmersbach ------------------------Simmet ----------Blusch------------------Overath ------Rühl-------------Löhr----------Hornig ------------Manager: Hans Merkle -------------------1. FC Nürnberg ----------Volkert------Nüssing-----Cebinac ---------H.Müller------Zaczyk-----Küppers ------Hansen---L.Müller---Wenauer---Leupold --------------------------Rynio -----------------Manager: Kuno Klötzer Subs: 60 Jendrossek in, Blusch out 67 Beer in, Cebinac out 82 Strehl in, Nüssing out
Rank # 86 Hamburg SV 3 Borussia Dortmund 4 Place: Hamburg, Volksparkstadion Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Date: 14 August 1976 Attendance: 49,000 Referee: Dreher (Darmstadt) Goal Scorers: 0-1 Hartl 4 0-2 Geyer 29 0-3 Kostedde 38 1-3 Steffenhagen 53 2-3 Reimann 58 2-4 Kostedde 60 3-4 Volkert 74 pen Commentary: Dortmund avoided relegation in 1969, but three years later, mostly due to incompetent management decisions, Dortmund was the weakest side in the entire Bundesliga and there was no other way than down for them. But four years later they were back with a talented side and young, a promising new manager called Otto Rehhagel as well as a new stadium which was built for the 1974 World Cup, the phenomenal Westfalenstadion. The city of Dortmund burst of enthusiasm, desperately looking forward to the first topflight game of their beloved BVB in four years, finally ending the years of humiliation (bring to mind that Ruhrpott rivals Schalke, Bochum and Essen were all playing in the Bundesliga during these four years). With their enthusiastic home crowd and usually packed Westfalenstadion, not only folks from Dortmund expected the club to regain the leading role they had in German club football during the 1950s and 1960s. But during the first ten years after their promotion, Dortmund rarely met these expectations, while they never had to fight against relegation regularly, they also weren’t quite able to join the top teams, despite the good circumstances. Hamburg at the start of the 1976-77 season was also expected to play a leading role. They had been Bundesliga runners-up in the previous season and won the German Cup, thus expectations by the media and fans were quite high. This was the setting before the first matchday of the new season, which pitted the two clubs against each other. Dortmund being the clear underdog, the 8,000 BVB supporters were in a trance-like state during the first half, as their side was 3-0 up after 38 minutes! During the first 45 minutes Dortmund gave a football lesson to Hamburg, showing the perfect way to play in an away game. Terribly dangerous, loaded with self-confidence and forceful, Dortmund's play was a seamless whole, from defense to attack, the best player being unfancied midfielder Burkhard Segler, who constantly befuddled his opponents, initiating the first goal after four minutes, placing a superb long pass into the run of Hans-Werner Hartl, scorer of an easy goal. The second goal looked like a “Tor des Monats” candidate (Goal of the Month), Peter Geyer having it scored after a backheel assist by Willi ‘Ente’ Lippens, the veteran magician on the left wing. The third goal came when Erwin Kostedde scored with a great volley after a cross by attacking right back Lothar Huber. Segler’s great performance came especially surprising since he had been sitting on the bench the previous two years, it wasn’t until the arrival of Rehhagel that Segler became a starter. During the break, Hamburg manager Kuno Klötzer decided that there was nothing left than to attack with vehemence, without regard for the defense. In the first 20 minutes of the second half, Hamburg showed how vulnerable Dortmund’s defense really was, how they fell apart under constant pressure. Sub Caspar Memering drove his teammates forward, adding a lot of punch to Hamburg’s actions. Dortmund lacked a clear commander of the defense, the full backs continuing to play much too offensively (Ackermann and Huber both began as wingers originally) and the central defense of Herbert Meyer and Helmut Nerlinger (father of Christian Nerlinger) found it difficult to withstand Hamburg’s striker trio pressurizing them. Hamburg’s powerplay first resulted in an off-side goal by Willi Reimann in the 53rd minute, but only seconds later Arno Steffenhagen scored a valid goal, poaching the ball over the line after Manfred Kaltz had hit the post. Cheers of joy from the home crowd after their club managed to score a second goal five minutes later, Reimann luckily having backheeled the ball into the net after several players were bustling about the ball in front of the goal. Hamburg had a really good chance of turning the game around at that stage if Dortmund’s skilful center forward (and first ever colored German national team player) Erwin Kostedde hadn’t scored a fourth goal for Dortmund only about a minute after Hamburg had scored their second. Kostedde had finished off a cold-bloodedly executed counter attack, that stunned Hamburg and the home crowd. But Hamburg didn’t give up, after a few minutes they got back on track but they only got to score one penalty goal, which wasn’t enough to prevent the first big sensation of the new season. --------------------Hamburg SV -----------------------Kargus ----Kaltz----Blankenburg---Ripp-----Hidien -------Björnmose----Zaczyk-----Eigl ----Steffenhagen---Reimann---Volkert -------------Manager: Kuno Klötzer ----------------Borussia Dortmund --------Lippens-----Kostedde------Geyer ----------Hartl--------Segler--------E.Wolf -Ackermann---H.Meyer--Nerlinger---Huber ------------------------Bertram -------------Manager: Otto Rehhagel Subs: 43 Memering in, Blankenburg out 78 H.J.Wagner in, Wolf out 89 Kasperski in, Hartl out
Rank # 85 VfB Stuttgart 3 Bayern München 0 Place: Stuttgart, Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Date: 14 November 1987 Attendance: 70,705 Referee: Pauly (Rheidt) Goal Scorers: 1-0 Klinsmann 18 2-0 Walter 71 3-0 Hartmann 90 Commentary: This arguably was the game that finally made Jürgen Klinsmann a national team player. Consider this, he started to play in the Bundesliga in August 1984 at the age of 20, and already in his first professional season proved a remarkable goal scorer for VfB Stuttgart (the year after they won the championship, which was a troublesome period for VfB). Klinsmann continued to score many goals in the Bundesliga (15 in 84-85, 16 in both 85-86 and 86-87), however he never even came close to being called up by Franz Beckenbauer for the national team. Today, with these numbers backing him, he’d have been a regular starter in each and every game, but back then, there was no need to call up a young promising player, as Klaus Allofs, Pierre Littbarski and Rudi Völler all were proven strikers of international class. Those were the days. Still, it must have been somewhat frustrating to Klinsmann to see lesser strikers like Frank Ordenewitz, Dieter Eckstein, Herbert Waas, Heinz Gründel, Roland Wohlfarth, Ludwig Kögl and Stefan Kuntz being called up during these years while he was continuously overlooked by Beckenbauer. But after this performance against Bundesliga champs Bayern, there simply was no way for Beckenbauer to continue to overlook Klinsmann. Already before this game, Klinsmann was the top striker in the Bundesliga (now that Rudi Völler had moved to Serie A and Klaus Allofs to France), leading the goal scorers table with 10 goals in 15 games. Stuttgart being backed by over 65,000 VfB supporters had no other choice than to attack uncompromisingly from the start, and fortunately for them they were in top form while their opponents appeared to be tired. In the 18th minute Klinsmann had his finest moment during the five years he played for VfB (for no other club did he play as long): If one wants to score a spectacular goal, there is no better way than to do it with a bicycle kick, the awesomeness-factor is not to be topped, and Klinsmann’s bicycle kick was a perfectly executed one, one that made the crowd go crazy. German “teamchef” Franz Beckenbauer was in the stadium seeing it live and he later commented that it was a world class goal. Klinsmann had finally caught the Kaiser’s attention it seemed. It was a once-in-a-lifetime-goal that Klinsmann celebrated in excessive style and was duly voted “Goal of the Year” later. Oftentimes a bicycle kick gets disallowed due to dangerous play, and Klinsmann’s may have had that fate as well if not for Bayern’s somewhat careless defending. Bayern manager Jupp Heynckes had told his players before the game that they should mark “whoever they were standing to next”, a strange variation of zonal defense his players had to get used to first. The problem was that Stuttgart’s two forwards Klinsmann and Fritz Walter were constantly changing positions which made it hard to pin them down, once from the right, then on the left and they were aided and joined by midfielders Maurizio Gaudino, Karl Allgöwer and Asgeir Sigurvinsson. To make it short, Bayern’s defense was a mess. It took Bayern 30 minutes before they had the first glimpse of a chance, but Bayern’s midfielders were moving too slow and the two strikers Roland Wohlfarth and Mark Hughes couldn’t get past their markers for Bayern to create any danger in Stuttgart’s box. Guido Buchwald, the Stuttgart center back, later commented on his duel with Welsh star striker Mark Hughes: “If that is a world class forward then I was world class today.” Pfaff was Bayern’s best player that Saturday, defusing a number of shots and headers by Walter and Klinsmann, who eagerly wanted to add a match-deciding second goal. That second goal was scored in the 71st minute after a counter attack at a time when Bayern were trying to pressurize the Stuttgart goal. Shortly before time Jürgen Hartmann added a well-deserved third goal and the desired humiliation of southern rival Bayern led the 65,000 Stuttgart fans in the stadium and the many outside the stadium to cheerful celebrations and close delirium. But historically most significant was that four days later, Jürgen Klinsmann got his long hoped for invitation by the DFB to join the national team… -------------------------VfB Stuttgart ------------------------------Immel ------------------------------Zietsch -------------Buchwald-----Mirwald----G.Schäfer -J.Hartmann---Sigurvinsson---Allgöwer---Gaudino -------------Klinsmann----------------F.Walter ----------------------Manager: Arie Haan -----------------------Bayern München -----------------Hughes-------------Wohlfarth --------------------------M.Rumenigge --------Pflügler-------Flick------Matthäus----Dorfner ----------------------Eder-------------Winklhofer ----------------------------Nachtweih --------------------------------Pfaff ----------------Manager: Jupp Heynckes Subs: 62 Schütterle in, Allgöwer out 71 Kögl in, Hughes out 71 J.Wegmann in, Winklhofer out 79 Strehmel in, Mirwald out
I just wasn't sure if you meant the meeting at the Bökelberg or at the Betzenberg between these two clubs that season. I guess you meant the Bökelberg encounter but I wasn't sure as I noticed that in American sports they put the away team first and the home team second when listing ties while it's the other way around over here.
Hopefully this game makes the list a little higher. Not only were the 1.FCK team and fans popping open Champaigne bottles but the VfL team and fans too. Even though they lost, the other results around the league that day meant that Wolfsburg was guaranteed to avoid relegation in their inaugural Bundesliga campaign. Being a fairly new VfL fan at that time, I vividly remember watching that game on FSW in a bar at noon with like 3 other people in the place being happy that Chad Deering, Claudio Reyna & co had survived.
great work. Appreciate your effort. It says "you must spread some rep before you can give it to Gregoriak again". That i'll do.
Rank #84 Bayern München 1 FC Schalke 04 3 Place: Munich, Olympiastadion Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Date: 14 April 2001 Attendance: 63,000 Referee: Aust (Cologne) Goal Scorers: 1-0 Jancker 3 1-1 Sand 12 1-1 Sand 51 1-2 Sand 79 Commentary: Before this duel, Bayern were leading the Bundesliga table with 50 points followed by Schalke, Leverkusen and Dortmund all with 49 points. After this encounter, Schalke were considered to be the bona fide favorite to win the Bundesliga title. Schalke had been in splendid form in the previous weeks, having beat Leverkusen 3-0 away and Kaiserslautern 5-1 at home, making the players burst with self-confidence. Bayern on the other hand had been struggling, having had lost 2-3 at Hansa Rostock, 0-3 at Lyon in the Champions’ League and 2-3 to Werder in the Olympiastadion, hence Schalke’s clear victory in this top game did not come that surprising, especially since Schalke had a reputation of excelling in crunch away games that season (4-0 at Dortmund, 4-0 at Hertha BSC, 3-0 at Leverkusen). Bayern had to replace Linke, Elber (both yellow carded), Lizarazu and Effenberg (red carded), which meant that Bayern manager Ottmar Hitzfeld had to remodel his defense, instead of a three-man defense with three center backs, he added Willy Sagnol as right back and Michael Tarnat as left back to an orthodox 4-4-2 formation. Schalke manager Huub Stevens trusted the players that had thrashed Kaiserslautern 5-1 in Gelsenkirchen the previous week. With Dane Ebbe Sand and Belgian Emile Mpenza Schalke played with two forwards with Gerald Asamoah on the right wing becoming the third striker as soon as Schalke was moving up forward, Nico van Hoogdalem backing him up on the right side, also taking care of Bayern’s Paulo Sergio. In the defense, Schalke marked Bayern’s two forwards Carsten Jancker and Roque Santacruz directly (Bayern were applying a zonal defense system), with Jiri Nemec being the sweeper in front of the two center backs. In front of 63,000 in the sold-out Olympiastadion, Bayern began forceful, Jancker exploiting bad positioning by Tomasz Hajto, which allowed him to score the first goal. A perfect start for the reigning champion. However after eleven minutes a bad placed ricochet header by Sammy Kuffour enabled Ebbe Sand to score the equalizer. During the next 30 minutes, goal scenes were few as Jens Jeremies and Jiri Nemec both did a very fine job at intercepting the other side’s passes in front of the box. Both teams played rather craven in the first half, not many direct duels taking place. However Schalke already showed that they had two very dangerous strikers in Sand and Mpenza, they only needed to feed these two, something Schalke did very well during the second half. With precise, quick and few ball movements in the midfield, the striker duo was set up many times by their teammates, exploiting bad positioning by Willy Sagnol and Sammy Kuffour, Andreas Möller being able to control the rhythm of play undeterred. Bayern’s play was concentrating too much on the left wing, where van Hoogdalem and Asamoah were hard to beat, as Bayern’s attempts were carried forward without adequate determination. Mehmet Scholl and Jens Jeremies being the only Bayern players who came up with constructive ideas. Shortly after the break Emile Mpenza crossed the ball to Ebbe Sand who headed in the second Schalke goal and twelve minutes before time Ebbe Sand crowned his excellent performance with his third goal (again assisted by Mpenza). Ebbe Sand had become a true Schalke hero after this game and he will remain to be one for the rest of his life. After this performance, everyone and everything favored Schalke: They had the fewest goals against, the easier schedule for the rest of the season, were the team with the fewest defeats plus they had history on their side, as almost every team that topped the league table at season’s half time was still topping it at the end of the season. Schalke also looked like the most logical champ as they had soundly beaten their competitors for the title (Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen). All these facts spoke for Schalke winning its first German championship since 1958...but more on that later in the countdown. ---------------------Bayern München -----------------------------Kahn -------Sagnol-----Kuffour-----Andersson----Tarnat --------------Salihamidzic---------Jeremies --------------------Scholl----------Sergio --------------Santacruz-------------Jancker -----------------Manager: Ottmar Hitzfeld ----------------------FC Schalke 04 -------------------Mpenza-------Sand -----------------A.Möller-------Asamoah ------------Böhme-------Büskens-----v.Hoogdalem ----------------------------Nemec -------------------Hajto----------------Waldoch ------------------------------Reck -------------------Manager: Huub Stevens Subs: 72 Zickler in, Sergio out 72 Hargreaves in, Andersson out 84 Wiesinger in, Santacruz out 90 Latal in, Asamoah out
Rank #83 Hamburg SV 0 Bayern München 5 Place: Hamburg, Volksparkstadion Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Date: 4 May 1974 Attendance: 55,000 Referee: Bonacker (Quadrath-Ichendorf) Goal Scorers: 0-1 Schwarzenbeck 18 0-2 Breitner 31 0-3 Breitner 53 0-4 Zobel 60 0-5 Hoeness 83 pen Commentary: This game was the pinnacle performance of Bayern’s great second half of the 1973-74 season, which featured arguably one of the greatest series of games by a Bundesliga club during the 1970s. After the heavy crisis of the first half of the season, Bayern was soon on a roll after the winter break. Simply check out some of the results: 5-1 vs. Fortuna Cologne 4-1 at Wuppertaler SV 5-1 vs. Schalke 04 4-1 vs. CSKA Sofia (European Cup) 5-1 vs. Hannover 96 4-1 vs. FC Cologne 4-0 at Duisburg 4-0 vs. Bochum 5-0 at Hamburg 4-0 vs. Atletico Madrid (European Cup) This 5-0 away win at Hamburg was among the finest performances of the all-conquering Bayern side of the early-/mid-1970s. It also marked the climax of the first ten years of the Hamburg vs. Bayern Bundesliga rivalry, in which the Northerners almost always were at the receiving end. From 1965 (when Bayern was promoted) to 1974, Hamburg chalked up the following results vs. the Bavarians: 1965-66 HSV 0-4, 0-3 Bayern (aggr. 0-7) 1966-67 HSV 3-1, 1-3 Bayern (aggr. 4-4) 1967-68 HSV 2-1, 0-1 Bayern (aggr. 2-2) 1968-69 HSV 2-2, 1-5 Bayern (aggr. 3-7) 1969-70 HSV 1-3, 1-2 Bayern (aggr. 2-5) 1970-71 HSV 1-5, 2-6 Bayern (aggr. 3-11) 1971-72 HSV 1-4, 3-4 Bayern (aggr. 4-8) 1972-73 HSV 0-2, 0-1 Bayern (aggr. 0-3) 1973-74 HSV 0-5, 1-4 Bayern (aggr. 1-9) Rarely has one club owned another one so definitely as Bayern owned Hamburg during these nine years. 18 games, 15 Bayern wins, one draw and two Hamburg wins! In fact, from spring 1969 to spring 1974, Hamburg lost ten consecutive games, scoring 19 goals and conceding 46 goals. The main reason for Hamburg’s constant humiliations at the hands of Bayern was of course Gerd Müller, who scored 21 of Bayern’s 46 goals. Speaking of Gerd Müller, despite Bayern’s great form, Müller faced a sort of mini crisis in March, April and May 1974. Although he had scored six goals in the eight Bundesliga games during these months, he had wasted plenty of scoring chances in most games and was clearly not his lethal self. During this period he also missed two penalties which didn’t help silencing his critics. Some jokingly suggested that he should shave off the moustache he sported since Christmas 1973, but Müller dismissed any such suggestions as "rubbish." Müller was clearly weary of it all but luckily for Bayern young Uli Hoeness played the best football of his life those days, taking much of the attacking responsibilities off of Müller’s shoulders. During the first ten minutes, the Hamburg crowd was still sanguine that the series of home defeats against the Bavarians would finally come to an end as the home side yielded three great goal scoring opportunities, but Georg ‘Schorsch’ Volkert (twice) and Horst Heese both wasted in an almost amateurish way, a 2-0 lead to HSV early in the game could have been possible. Soon afterwards Bayern started to command the game in its typical fashion, coolly controlling the game, a style they had perfected over the past five years. The players had been greeted with whistles by the home crowd (except Hoeness!) but during the 90 minutes they earned the respect of even the most ardent Hamburg fans for their ably demonstration of ‘total control football’. Hamburg didn’t look that bad either, but the team was essentially harmless while Bayern was the complete opposite, everything was done with sober reasoning, accurate calculation and remarkable precision. Hoeness and Beckenbauer were the two cornerstones of the Bayern machine, playing at an extraordinary high level, both being at the pinnacle of their respective careers. Paul Breitner, the marvellously attacking full back, was the third player deserving special remarks. Breitner was slowly but surely reaching the same heights as Hoeness and Beckenbauer, he was not quite there yet, but would reach his optimal shape at the World Cup (contrary to Hoeness, who played a somewhat disappointing World Cup). Workhorse Rainer Zobel and especially center back Katsche Schwarzenbeck also played very well. That Bayern’s centerback would score the first Bayern goal was not really a coincidence. His opponent, the Hamburg center forward Heese, was instructed to mark Beckenbauer whenever he would move into Hamburg’s side of the pitch. Heese being distracted by this job allowed Schwarzenbeck to act much more offensively than usual. For Hamburg, only Manfred Kaltz and goalkeeper Rudi Kargus deserved special mention. Without them, Hamburg’s defeat might have been even more painful. The five goals were scored as follows: 1-0: Schwarzenbeck, Müller and Hoeness engage in a dazzling triangle combination, the ball comes back to Schwarzenbeck, who scores from the inside left position 2-0: Hoeness and Kapellmann perform a 1-2 on the left wing, Kapellmann crosses the ball into the box where Müller can’t control the ball, but from the back Breitner rushes forward and scores with a volley shot. 3-0: Another triangle combination, this time between Torstensson, Dürnberger and Breitner at the midline. Suddenly Breitner rushes forward at the left flank, spurts into the penalty box and then hits the ball past goalie Kargues with a thunderous shot. 4-0: Short pass by Dürnberger to Zobel, who runs parallel to the box for a few seconds but then surprises the HSV goalie Kargus (who had calculated with a shot into the opposite corner of the goal) with turn-around shot 5-0: Through ball by Breitner to Müller, Jürgen Krobbach grabs Müller – penalty. Hoeness converts. Thus came about Hamburg’s highest ever Bundesliga home defeat to that date. But the worst was now fortunately over for them. In the next season, Hamburg won both encounters vs. Bayern 1-0 and by the end of the 1970s, Hamburg seemed to have adopted Bayern’s coolly calculated ‘football chess’ style, becoming one of the dominating clubs in Germany and Europe. ------------------------Hamburg SV ----------------------------Kargus ------------Kaltz-----Winkler---Ripp-----Hidien ------------Björnmose----Zaczyk-----Krobbach ------------Sperlich--------Heese------Volkert -------------------Manager: Kuno Klötzer ----------------------Bayern München ----------Kapellmann----G.Müller---Torstensson --------------Zobel-----U.Hoeness------Roth --Breitner--Schwarzenbeck---Beckenbauer--Hansen ------------------------------Maier --------------------Manager: Udo Lattek Subs: 37 Dürnberger in, Hansen out
Rank # 82 Bayern München 1 1. FC Köln 2 Place: Munich, Grünwalder Stadion Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Date: 15 November 1969 Attendance: 44,000 Referee: Schulenburg (Hannover) Goal Scorers: 0-1 Rühl 14 1-1 Müller 48 1-2 Simmet 60 Commentary: “Stets auf Draht – Overath!” read a giant banner Cologne fans had unveiled in Munich’s Grünwalder Stadion, and indeed Cologne’s skipper and playmaker was in tremendous shape at that time. After the 90 minutes were over, Overath had proved to be one of the best midfielder’s in European football and left the stadium like an ancient Roman triumphator. Even the home crowd paid tribute to Overath with standing ovations. Yet it wasn’t even Overath’s best game of the season, he had been more striking in the games vs. Schalke and Oberhausen (who were shockingly topping the league for a couple of weeks earlier in the season and for a short time were the team to beat). It was a game of many missed opportunities, especially from the home side. Bayern wasted high quality opportunities almost minute-by-minute, either not hitting the goal or the superb Cologne goalkeeper Manfred ‘Cassius’ Manglitz foiled all tries by Bayern’s forwards. Müller, Brenninger, Müller again, Beckenbauer, Brenninger, Müller, Beckenbauer and Müller again all had formidable scoring chances during the first 20 minutes. Yet at that time, frustratingly for Bayern’s players and fans, the guests were already up 1-0! Cologne’s right back Karl-Heinz Thielen had addressed a long pass over Bayern’s forward-moving defensive line towards Carlheinz Rühl, who at inside left position started a solo, leaving first Helmut Schmidt and then Franz Beckenbauer behind. Schwarzenback hurried along to place a tackle but Rühl managed to shoot before Schwarzenback arrived and Maier had no chance. Now Bayern had to enforce their efforts even more, with Beckenbauer giving up his sweeper role and moving up forward to the midfield constantly. A very dangerous tactic as Cologne’s forwards Rupp, Löhr and Hornig all were fairly fast players great at counter attacking. As the game went on, the outstanding Overath was initiating Cologne’s play from a withdrawn position, convincing his critics with his superb vision and long yet very precise and well-timed passes. With Carlheinz Rühl and Heinz Simmet, Overath had two ‘workhorses’ next to him aiding him well. In defense, sweeper Werner Biskup also played an exceptional game. Trailing one goal, Bayern got more nervous with time passing and Cologne ever more self-assured. Shortly after the break, Bayern had two great opportunities, first right back and skipper Werner Olk unleashed a wonderfully placed shot with the outside of his foot, that had Manfred Manglitz mobilising his utmost goalkeeping skills in order to parry this dangerous ball, then seconds later Cologne’s sweeper Biskup stopped a cross by Ohlhauser from the left flank with his breast, then wanted to head it to Wolfgang Weber, but Müller interfered, headed to Günter Michl who passed the ball back to Müller. Müller stopped the ball with his breast and then thundered it into the goal. Celebrations were high as Bayern players and fans were now hoping the game to develop like they had expected it, with a desired victory for the home side. But in the 61st minute, Maier made a crucial mistake, he ran after a corner ball, which he never had a chance to catch, thus leaving his goal unguarded, the ball came to Hannes Löhr who hit it with his shoulder to Heinz Simmet, who headed the ball between Beckenbauer and Schwarzenbeck into the abandoned Bayern goal. After scoring the vital second goal, Cologne continued to control the game coolly and cleverly, although Bayern had some further chances to equalize, especially Franz Beckenbauer was now foaming with anger, one of his shots hitting the cross bar (67th minute), one being parried by Manglitz (73rd). Brenninger and Müller wasted two more opportunities, yet Cologne could have just as well scored their third goal, as Heinz Hornig almost placed a subtle freekick past Sepp Maier and Karl-Heinz Thielen’s deflected shot from distance proved to be quite dangerous. It was inexplicable that Bayern almost never used the flanks for their attacks, everything went through the middle, where Overath reigned supreme. When Bayern’s forwards didn’t know how to get past Cologne’s defensive wall, they were only left with passing the ball back to Beckenbauer, who had the responsibility to start another attack, but Beckenbauer couldn’t all do it by himself. Cologne didn’t even have to mark Beckenbauer, all they had to do was to mark the Bayern players surrounding the Kaiser, so that he couldn’t get the ball circulating like he wanted to. Cologne went on the win this prestigious encounter, staying at the top of the Bundesliga table, with Bayern dropping to third and Gladbach moving up to second spot. Further information regarding Cologne’s progress that season can be found in the second post in this thread. For Bayern, the bitter taste of home defeat would soon be a distant memory. They were to lose once more (in Spring 1970 to Stuttgart) but then managed to avoid any home defeats for over four years! --------------------Bayern München ----------------------------Maier ------Olk----Beckenbauer---Schwarzenbeck---Pumm ------------Roth--------Ohlhauser------H.Schmidt -----------Michl---------G.Müller-------Brenninger -----------------Manager: Branko Zebec -----------------------1. FC Köln -------------Hornig------Löhr------Rupp -----------Rühl--------Overath------Simmet -Hemmersbach---Weber---Biskup----Thielen -------------------------Manglitz -----------------Manager: Hans Merkle Subs: none
Given the thread title, I would think it's not even a consideration. Otherwise, I would nominate the 1977 DFB-Pokal quarterfinal tie between Bayer Uerdingen and Eintracht Frankfurt. Actually, an entire thread could probably be done on that competition alone. I don't know how in the world Gregoriak found the details for these Bundesliga matches; I would imagine it would be tougher to find details on every DFB-Cup tie.
"And then, Netzer subbed himself in and scored the game winner during over time. I bet you have never heard that story before!" "Of course not, it's not like you see it on TV every day..." Btw, I mourn the lack of Braunschweig games. Defensive soccer rules!
A great list Gregoriak! Some great match summaries and some great players too. The matches you have listed so far are great, so your Top 20 must be really special. In particular, I've enjoyed reading about some of Bayern's losses and somehow, Hamburg's wins. Wasn't there a match in 1977 at the Olympiastadion in which Schalke beat Bayern 7-0? Get some footage of Catanzaro in the 1981-82 Serie A season. They would make Herrera's Inter look ultra-offensive.
Thanks! That game would be very near the top if it had been a league game. Generally, Cologne and Gladbach engaged in some very good games during the early-1970s and a couple of them will be featured. One could argue that two of them would rival the 1973 Cup final in terms of quality (not reputation), so you're not too far off with your suggestion. Thanks to you as well!