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European Championship History; Classic matches and goals
Topic Started: May 19 2008, 10:08 PM (1,804 Views)
Simon
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You have to love the extreme formality that UEFA always have on their website. I see that 'Anthony Stewart Woodcock' and 'Colin Raymond Wilkins' featured for England in that game :huh:

What total pondlife those England fans were in 1980, and in fact during that whole period. These outbreaks of hooliganism really turn me off the national team at times. I especially remember watching England v Tunisia in WC98 totally ambivalent about the result because of the scenes of chaos caused by the knuckle-dragging morons in Marseille that day, and the same goes for Charleroi in 2000 (although at least on that occasion the shame was shared as there were hordes of German hooligans equally involved). Thankfully the government has done a good job clamping down, and the last 3 tournaments have passed without any incident. In fact FIFA and UEFA have especially praised the behaviour of English fans! I fervently hope things remain that way but we can never get complacent on that issue.

That was a good England team and of course this tournament fell in the middle of the European Cup's six-year stay in England, which constitutes the all-time record. But Belgium were a very good side in the 1980s and they demonstrated that Club Brugge's qualification for the 1978 European Cup Final was no fluke.
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gaviota
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It is true Euro 1980 was a generally poor tournament remembered for so many of the wrong things (poor football, crowd trouble). But Bernd Schuster was, as historyman wrote, the revelation of the tournament and a real rising star. He may not have played much for Germany after 1980 but he had a fine club career in Spain. Rummenigge was a great player too and this might have been one of the rare national team tournaments where I recall he was not hurt! Poor guy always seemed to be injured, or at least was for World Cup 1982 and 1986.

Italy finished 4th, losing on penalties to the Czechs in the third place game even though they didn't lose a game and only the Czechs scored a goal on them in the tournament! But with the bizarre rules of the tournament, there were two groups of 4 at the finals with only the group winners going to the title game, the 2nd place teams went to the third place game. Italy finished second in it's group to Belgium, losing out only on goal difference with a team which was practically identical to it's World Cup winning team of two years later. I think the primary difference was Paolo Rossi was still suspended and Roberto Bettega was the forward in his place.
CHAMP13NS
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Martin
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gaviota,May 27 2008
10:06 PM
It is true Euro 1980 was a generally poor tournament remembered for so many of the wrong things (poor football, crowd trouble). But Bernd Schuster was, as historyman wrote, the revelation of the tournament and a real rising star. He may not have played much for Germany after 1980 but he had a fine club career in Spain. Rummenigge was a great player too and this might have been one of the rare national team tournaments where I recall he was not hurt! Poor guy always seemed to be injured, or at least was for World Cup 1982 and 1986.

Italy finished 4th, losing on penalties to the Czechs in the third place game even though they didn't lose a game and only the Czechs scored a goal on them in the tournament! But with the bizarre rules of the tournament, there were two groups of 4 at the finals with only the group winners going to the title game, the 2nd place teams went to the third place game. Italy finished second in it's group to Belgium, losing out only on goal difference with a team which was practically identical to it's World Cup winning team of two years later. I think the primary difference was Paolo Rossi was still suspended and Roberto Bettega was the forward in his place.

Bernd Schuster was a great midfielder. I think the rest of the world should be grateful he ended up not playing much for Germany after Euro 1980. Can you imagine the teams Germany could have had with Schuster teaming with Matthaus or even Sammer in midfield, with Littbarski on the wing and with Klinsmann in front of him?

What is striking about Schuster, even more than his passing ability and his free kick talent was that he was such a charismatic figure that he played for Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid and rather than being hated like Luis Enrique or Luis Figo are/were when they left one team for their rival, Schuster is still a beloved figure by fans of each of those clubs [well beloved until he became Real Madrid's coach this past season! :o ]

gaviota,

I don't think Bruno Conti was on that Italy 1980 team either. Rossi and Conti were in my opinion Italy's chief offensive weapons when they won the 1982 World Cup.
Club Sportivo Desamparados
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historyman
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If the 1980 EC was notorious for its lack of quality, then the following one in 1984 was the polar opposite. That year’s championship is a serious contender for the best tournament of all time because of the wonderful football on display, and of course it was dominated by one man: Michel Platini. B)

At this time the Frenchman was the best player on the planet, since Maradona had lost his way somewhat at Barcelona (he would move to Napoli and sainthood later that summer).

Platini’s nine goals in five games, including two hat-tricks, remains a tournament record which is unlikely to be surpassed. Although he was at his peak in the mid-eighties he was very much ahead of his time and performed a role which is quite common in today’s game, that of an attacking midfielder who can convert into a striker when the game demands.

Some say that a perfect hat-trick has to include a goal with both feet and a header. Platini achieved this in France’s group match against Yugoslavia. He was also outstanding in his country’s memorable 3-2 extra-time victory over Portugal in the semi-final in Marseilles, scoring the winner in the 119th minute.

The final itself was an anti-climax, as they often are, but it was memorable for Platini’s free-kick which squeezed under the body of Luis Arconada, the Spanish goalkeeper.

So France were crowned European champions for the first time, and later that year Platini was named as the European Footballer of the Year for the third time in succession, the only time that the feat has been achieved.

Although the 1984 EC was an outstanding tournament it was a frustrating experience trying to follow it from the UK. There was no satellite coverage in those days of course, and the UK television companies snootily ignored the tournament since England failed to qualify, and as far as I recall only two of the matches were carried live - Spain’s 1-0 victory over West Germany and the final itself. The rest was condensed into edited highlights. This was a very painful experience for a football mad twelve year old who already felt cut off from the rest of Europe by geography! :angry:

It was also a case of ‘what could have been’ for Northern Ireland. Have a look at this link to the qualifying stages for 1984. In group 6 you’ll see that we failed to qualify for the finals by goal difference to West Germany, after having beaten them home and away. NI remain the only country to have defeated (West) Germany home and away in the same qualifying competition. :D B)

Does anyone else have memories of the ‘84 championship?
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Simon
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Extremely impressive feat by Northern Ireland in beating Germany home and away in qualifying, and very rough luck in still not making it to the tournament. Still, there had been plenty of Northern Irish heroics for you to enjoy two years previously at the World Cup! Because European championships of that time were so limited in scope it was really hard to qualify and very common for big footballing countries to sit them out (although never Germany of course!)

Italy, England, Holland and the Soviet Union were not present in 1984, France missed out in 1988, Italy and Spain din't qualify for 1992 etc. I think UEFA has the balance right now, at 16 teams. With France, it seems funny that a successful team is always followed by a period in the wilderness and following their 1984 success France didn't qualify for the next European Championships or the World Cups of 1990 or 1994. But this was a superb French side and if Platini was the star then the supporting cast of Giresse, Tigana, Fernandez and co wasn't too bad either! That semi-final with Portugal was one of the best games I've ever seen. But it just goes to show how nothing can be taken for granted in this sport and even as great a side as that French one could easily have ended up empty handed. They could easily have lost to Portugal and even in the final they were only one lucky goal to the good when they had a player sent off and Spain battered away at them at the end. Ultimately they sealed it on the break and were deserving winners.

1984 was also notable as our first glimpse of the Danish Dynamite team that were so exciting to watch in the 1980s, although strangely it was after the break up of that side that Denmark suddenly won the European Championship!
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Merengue
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I have to catch up here, I was going to write about Euro 1980 still but we're already at the next tournament now! Actually Martin wrote a lot of what I wanted to say about Schuster and I agree with his assertion that the rest of world football should be grateful that Schuster had his problems with Germany's football federation because a Schuster at Euro 84 or 88 or World Cup 82 or 86 could have changed the outcomes of those tournaments. He was that good.

I too have good memories of Euro 1984 and not just because that was Spain's best showing at a major tournament in my lifetime! Platini did have a great tournament and that French team not only won games but played so stylishly. What a midfield they did have as Simon wrote with Platini, Giresse, Tigana and Fernandez. And I also remember Manuel Amoros flying down the wings from his defensive position. That was a very enjoyable team to watch. And curiously like Euro 2000 and World Cup 2006 to advance to the final they had to get by Portugal. And like those other semifinals this one too was a very close game. With Rui Jordao scoring goals and Fernando Chalana in midfield that was a good Portuguese team who gave France all they could handle in the semi. But Platini would not let France lose.

Spain advanced to the finals in dramatic fashion too. In the group stage after drawing their first two games with Portugal and Romania, Spain were once more tied with West Germany entering the 90th minute, a result which would have eliminated Spain and sent the Germans through along with Portugal. But in the final minute of the game defender Antonio Maceda dramatically scored to give Spain a win and a spot in the semifinals. There they played that fine Danish team with a young Michael Laudrup, Soren Lerby and the team's star Preben Elkjaer, a powerful, skillful and fast forward. Maceda again scored in the semifinals and the game went to penalties where Spain won as Elkjaer was the only player to miss.

On to the final and Spain gave France a tough time of it in the final. I have to disagree with historyman, it was anything but an anticlimax. Unfortunately for Spain, Platini's free kick slid under Arconada, a good goalie but one who made key mistakes in this tournament and at World Cup 1982 for which he'll always be remembered, and France went on top. Spain had their chances but neither center forward Carlos Santillana nor our surprising goal scoring hero Maceda could find the net and then Bruno Bellone on a late counter finished the game off. An excellent European championship won by a fine team led by one of the game's all time greats in Michel Platini.
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Don Balon
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I remember the 1984 EuroCup very well. An exciting tournament and Platini as described here was magnificient for France. But he was not alone and played in one of the best midfields Europe has seen. Merengue, I found this article on AS about the tournament, and it looks like Amoros wasn't in that final, I guess it wasn't until 1986 when he came into the team,

http://www.as.com/especial/eurocopa/francia-1984.html

Unfortunately though this has a picture of that fateful shot from Platini squeezing past Arconada in the Final!

For Spain fans 1984 was a time of so many highs and lows. Spain barely qualified and needed many goals in it's final qualifying game against Malta to advance. The eventual final score of 12-1 some consider tainted. We'll never know if that's true but once at the finals, like Merengue wrote Spain needed that last minute goal from Maceda to advance to the semifinals and eliminate West Germany, back in those days an almost unheard of circumstance when Germany didn't make at least the finals of an international tournament! I remember as a child going out in the streets with neighbors, family and friends and celebrating Maceda's goal.

In the semifinals Maceda again scored but it was Manuel Sarabia's penalty which won it for Spain. On to the final against that great French team and while Spain's fighting qualities, it really was a national team with a lot of spirit, made it close, France had too much class and Arconada's error gifted them that opening goal. The final goal happened in the last minute when Spain were throwing everyone forward to tie the game. A very exciting summer 1984 was.
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historyman
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Simon,May 30 2008
04:25 AM
I But it just goes to show how nothing can be taken for granted in this sport and even as great a side as that French one could easily have ended up empty handed. They could easily have lost to Portugal and even in the final they were only one lucky goal to the good when they had a player sent off and Spain battered away at them at the end. Ultimately they sealed it on the break and were deserving winners.

1984 was also notable as our first glimpse of the Danish Dynamite team that were so exciting to watch in the 1980s, although strangely it was after the break up of that side that Denmark suddenly won the European Championship!

The margins between success and failure seem to be getting slimmer all the time. No doubt the winners of Euro 2008 will have a few lucky escapes along the way.

That Danish side of the mid 80s were breathtaking to watch at times. No doubt we'll come back to them in the near future.

So much to discuss, so little time.... :(
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historyman
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Merengue,May 30 2008
08:05 AM
  And curiously like Euro 2000 and World Cup 2006 to advance to the final they had to get by Portugal.  And like those other semifinals this one too was a very close game.  With Rui Jordao scoring goals and Fernando Chalana in midfield that was a good Portuguese team who gave France all they could handle in the semi.  But Platini would not let France lose.



I hadn't spotted that before! That's an unusual coincidence.
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historyman
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Don Balon,May 30 2008
10:34 AM

For Spain fans 1984 was a time of so many highs and lows.  Spain barely qualified and needed many goals in it's final qualifying game against Malta to advance.  The eventual final score of 12-1 some consider tainted.  We'll never know if that's true but once at the finals, like Merengue wrote Spain needed that last minute goal from Maceda to advance to the semifinals and eliminate West Germany, back in those days an almost unheard of circumstance when Germany didn't make at least the finals of an international tournament!  I remember as a child going out in the streets with neighbors, family and friends and celebrating Maceda's goal.


I remember some of the fuss that was caused by Spain's qualification. They pipped Holland on goal difference to get to the finals after their 'easy' 12-1 victory over Malta. The Republic of Ireland finished third in that group, so there was a bit more media attention focused on that match over here.

As Don Balon says, we'll never know whether the match was fixed or not but the blame has to be laid at the door of UEFA. Why did they not arrange to have the last games of each group played simultaenously? It was two years earlier at the '82 WC when West Germany and Austria played out their 'agreed' 1-0 victory to the Germans in their final group game, thus eliminating Algeria who had played their last game earlier.

Looks like UEFA were a little bit slow to learn from what is easily one of the most disgraceful episodes in WC history.
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Hector
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Good point istoryman about the simultaneous games. I know by 1986 FIFA had learned it's lesson from the fiasco that was West Germany-Austria in 1982 but I wonder when they started playing simultaneous final group matche sin the Euro Cup?

Like many Spanish people, I have good memories of 1984. That Spanish team kept it's fans on the edge of it's seat with hard nosed, spirited play and it so often pulled games out at the very end. But with Antonio Maceda, the hero of the wins over West Germany and Denmark, missing for the final, Spain just couldn't beat France especially after Arconada's error. Don't forget France needed a late goal at the end of extra time in the semifinals to beat Portugal when that match appeared to be headed to penalties. So EuroCup 1984 not only had a good France team led by the magestical Michel Platini but it was a dramatic tournament with many games going right down to the end before being decided. Personally it has been my favorite European championship to watch.
iPuerta amigo, Sevilla esta contigo!
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Mr. Pither
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You have brought back some wonderful memories of Euro 1984 and that great French team. As some others have written Platini was incredible in this tournament. He was to this European championship what Diego Maradona was to World Cup 1986. I don't think in my lifetime, and I'm 42, I've seen any players dominate a tournament like Platini did in 1984 and Maradona in 1986.

But France were more than just Platini, there was the little Alain Giresse running around Platini and always ready to exchange passes with him, Jean Tigana covering lot of ground in midfield but being a stylish defensive midfielder, and there also was Luis Fernandez, who was more of the ball winner in that team but as everybody else in the squad, a player who knew what to do with the ball once he recovered it.

What I think was key for that France team compared to their 1982 World Cup semifinalists was they also had a pretty strong defense led by Maxime Bossis and Yvan LeRoux, probably the most physical player on that team. Plus fullback Domergue had a strong shot and I think scored a couple of goals in that epic semifinal win against Portugal. While Joel Bats was a pretty good goalkeeper too. The forwards, especially Rocheteau and Six were skillful but also were able to move out wide and open up space for Platini and Giresse to move closer to goal. That was a team which brings back a lot of pleasant memories.
P-I-T-H-E-R ...as in Brotherhood, but with PI instead of the BRO and no HOOD
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Nkono
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Platini, Tigana and Giresse was an amazing midfield. In the 1982 World Cup the fourth member of the quartet was Bernard Genghini but by this Euro 84 and for World Cup 86 it was Luis Fernandez who joined them. Like Mr. Pither wrote they had style. That was one of the most elegant teams I have ever seen play.

I was a big Marius Tresor fan growing up but I guess he was too old for Euro 84. But Bossis was a fine defender who was good at distributing the ball too. That France team played football the way I like to see it played.
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historyman
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The 1984 European Championship was always going to be a tough act to follow, but in truth the 1988 EC, held in West Germany, was a reasonably good tournament. It is of course primarily remembered for the wonderful Dutch team of that period, in particular the triumvirate of Guillit, Van Basten and Rijkaard. And then there was that volley from Van Basten in the final…

The UK media coverage of the competition was in stark contrast to four years previous. England had qualified with a very impressive record, as had the Republic of Ireland under Jack Charlton. Although the media hype at the time was much less than today, many commentators felt that England could lift the trophy. Their forward line of Lineker, Beardsley, Barnes and Waddle was amongst the most feared in the Europe of 1988. At least we would be able to watch most of it on TV.

England’s first match against the ROI was never going to win any football beauty contests. The football that Charlton favoured involved long balls being knocked over defenders’ heads for the forwards to chase and win. In fact the Republic’s winning goal was typical of their style of play.

They had been labelled as underdogs going into the tournament but in terms of statistics they were one of the form teams of the year.

Things got worse for England in their next game against Holland. They were eliminated after being destroyed by Van Basten’s hat-trick. I remember watching that at the time and being totally mesmerised by his skill and movement. England’s 3-1 defeat against the USSR in the final group game was an absolutely shocking performance which was lambasted in the English media.

However it later became apparent that Gary Lineker was suffering from the early stages of hepatitis, which explained his lack of sharpness in the matches. Had he been able to take some of his wasted chances then the results could well have been very different.

In fact this tournament’s destiny was decided by a freakish moment. Holland were eight minutes away from elimination at at the hands of the ROI when Wim Kieft scored one of the flukiest goals that I’ve ever seen, his downward header spinning off the ground and trickling into the corner of the net. So the Dutch scraped into the semi-finals behind the USSR.

And so to the semi-finals. The USSR comfortably dispatched a young Italian side 2-0, but the real drama had taken place the previous evening. It was on mid-summer evening, 21st June 1988, that WG and Holland played out an extraordinary semi-final. Two dodgy penalties made the score 1-1 and then a wonderfully hooked shot from Van Basten, at full stretch across the turf, settled it in Holland’s favour.

However the attitude of the Dutch fans, players and media in the run-up to this match and in its aftermath brought a lot of cultural and political baggage into the proceedings. The game was widely seen as a rematch of the 1974 WC final and a chance for the Dutch to gain revenge. However there was also the ‘small’ matter of WWII. In his excellent book ‘Football Against the Enemy’, Simon Kuper devotes a whole chapter to the complex relationship between Holland and Germany and how it manifested itself on that warm June evening. That’s a fascinating subject in itself and maybe we’ll get a chance to return to it sometime.

Suffice to say that after Ronald Koeman had swapped shirts with Olaf Thon, he later revealed that he used the West Germany shirt as toilet paper! :o

I was delighted to see Holland win Euro’88, and Van Basten’s volley in their 2-0 defeat of the Soviet Union was a fitting tribute to their flowing football.

And now over to you! What do you remember from 1988?
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Simon
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I was really hopeful of a strong England showing in 1988. As Historyman says, we qualified in style with a couple of 8-0 demolition jobs on Turkey and, best of all, a 4-1 win in Belgrade against a brilliant Yugoslavia side. Earlier that year Gary Lineker, then with Barcelona of course, had scored all four England goals in the 4-2 win over Spain at the Bernebeu and as Historyman says we thought with Lineker, Hoddle, Waddle, Beardsley and Barnes we had the best forward line in Europe, and with Bryan Robson controlling the midfield and players like Butcher and Shilton at the back we felt we had a great chance of winning the tournament. As we know, it turned into a nightmare. Butcher broke his leg and missed out, Waddle had a hernia operation and was unfit, Lineker had hepatitis. Beardsley and Barnes had both played magnificently throughout 1987/88 in what I would personally consider to be Liverpool's greatest team but maybe they were tired from that, certainly neither replicated their club form that summer, particularly Barnes of whom so much was expected. He always got a lot of flak, plenty of it unfair, but it's true that he very rarely showed England fans the devastating form he showed each week in the red of Liverpool.

To lose was galling enough but to lose to 'England Reserves' was just terrible! The 'Irish' all seemed to be Englishmen who qualified to play for Ireland because, as the joke of that era went, their grandmother had once had a sip of Guiness! Of course it's since emerged that that wasn't too far from the truth in several cases and some of those players should never have played for Ireland, but that doesn't change the fact that it was the first tournament they'd ever qualified for and Jack Charlton had got them psyched up to play England. They weren't pretty but they were effective and hard-working, they had a system that suited them and they knew their roles within it. We lost 1-0 and if memory serves we played several other competitive games with them in that period and I don't think we ever did beat them. To this day I'm very keen for England to avoid playing Celtic or English speaking countries in tournaments (and for United to avoid getting Celtic and co) as they always seem to find a different level of play against the English! That Ireland team's last great hurrah would come when they beat Italy 1-0 at World Cup '94.

As for Holland and Van Basten, what can I say? In the years I've been watching football I've known most of the top countries get a real stuffing from time to time, but fortunately it very rarely happens to England. When we lose it tends to be by the odd goal or, of course, on penalties. Well, not that day! We played okay, but Van Basten was clinical in a way that Lineker just couldn't be that summer. I'm trying to think if that's the only hat-trick I can remember being scored against England? Off the top of my head I can't think of another. And so we were out, and Holland went on to win. To my mind, Van Basten's volley against the Soviets in the final was the greatest goal in European Championship history and one of the finest goals of all time, full stop.
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