WEMBLEY 1972 (...And Other Big Feats)
Günter Netzer
Translated by Robert Pralle
"If we concede less than five, we can count it as a success," I said to Beckenbauer.
The England vs West Germany trilogy, Wembley 1966 - Mexico 1970 - Wembley 1972, was due to have a happier conclusion though for Günter Netzer and his teammates. His dazzling performance (regrettably) spelt the end of England's golden age under Alf Ramsey.
The 'Kaiser's' record is well known. Here is Netzer's 'account of my lifetime of outstanding achievement', a chance for those who missed his brief explosion onto the international football scene to know what all the fuss was about. The 'Rebell am Ball's' game was a singular combination of languor and drive, which helped elevate Borussia Mönchengladbach from regional obscurity to the top of the Bundesliga, and then revive the sleeping giant Real Madrid.
He liked to do things his own way, whether it was negotiating his transfer to Los Blancos himself or absconding mid-season to Las Vegas for Tina Sinatra's wedding. On the other hand, 'den cleveren' Netzer, as Beckenbauer called him, knew that his Ferrari driving playboy image had to be set aside if he was to enjoy managerial success at Hamburg SV. This was duly achieved, as he helped turn around Kevin Keegan's career at the club. The summit of his and coach Ernst Happel's success came with one of the greatest European Cup upsets of all time: victory in the 1983 final over Michel Platini's Juventus.
Having once been his passenger, Keegan assured him that he could, without question, have made it as a racing driver. It was too late now for Netzer to pursue this career. Instead, when he retired from active involvement in football, more prizes were to follow for the cool analyses he provided as co-presenter of German television's most popular soccer broadcast, the ARD-Sportschau. They left no doubt that he is one of the finest heads in German football - besides being a man with unusually big feet.