Draft:West Germany National Football Team

West Germany National Football Team

1952-1990
Nickname(s)	"The Terriers" "Iron Foot" "Der Bomber" "Der Kaiser" "The Cats from Anzing"
Association	Deutscher Fußball Bund
Confederation	UEFA
Most caps	Lothar Matthaus (150)
Top scorer	Gerd Muller (68)
Home stadium	Weserstadion, Bremen
FIFA code	FRG

The West Germany national football team represented West Germany in men's international football competitions being one of the three post-war German teams, along with East Germany and Saarland.

West Germany won the World Cup three times (1954, 1974 and 1990. After German reunification, East Germany became part of the Deutscher Fußball Bund it's governing body.

History

Following the Second World War, Germany, then Nazi Germany was cut in twin. So that it could not rise to it's former glory. Thus, the German national team followed the same fate. The communist East Germany had a national team and so did the capitalist west. Their first coach, Sepp Herberger, was appointed after the disappointing campaign led by Otto Nerz at the 1936 Olympics on home soil being eliminated by Norway.

1954 World Cup victory

Hergerger led the team to the 1954 World Cup qualifiers in which they were in a group with Saarland and Norway. They played Norway first in which they racked up a draw with the score being 1-1. Following this draw, they played Saarland and won 3-0 to top the group by 4 points and qualify to the group stage. There, Hungarydismantled West Germany 8-3 in the first round, with Kocsis scoring four goals. Despite this loss, they won against Turkey 4-1 to finish second and qualify for the knockout stage. In the Quarter-finals, they then played Yugoslavia and won without conceding 2-0. They then saw victory again against Austria dismantling them 6-1 to make it to the final.

In the final, they played the favourites Hungary who, then had not racked a single loss. Ferenc Puskas had put Hungary ahead after six minutes and Zoltan Czibor had doubled the advantage after eight. Despite being 2-0 down in the span of only eight minutes, at the 10th minute, Helmut Rahn was left free and made a cross for Max Morlock to put it in the back of the net and made it 2-1. Eight minutes later, Fritz Walter made a corner for Rahn to make it 2-2. And, with six minutes left on the clock, a cross was made and Rahn only had to put it in the back of the net to make 3-2. Despite all the efforts of Hungary, they could not equalize. The favourites had lost in a match nicknamed the "Miracle of Bern".

Losses and Game of the Century

Following the World Cup win, the team finished fourth at the 1958 World Cup, being eliminated by host and runners up Sweden. Four years later, at the 1962 World Cup, they finished at the quarter-finals being eliminated by Yugoslavia. After these two unsuccesfull campaigns, the DFB made some changes. A new professional league was formed, in which the best team from various Regionalligas were assembled to make the Bundesliga. And, after 28 years of service, Herberger was replaced by Helmut Schon.

Now led by a new coach, West Germany qualified and reached the final of the 1966 World Cup after beating the USSR in the semi-finals 2-1. The team however lost to host England 4-2 with Geoff Hurst making a hat-trick. The first time in World Cup history.

At the 1970 World Cup the team started off strong toping their qualifying group by 4 points to qualify to the quarter-finals. There, they beat former World Cup winners England 3-2. They then had to play Italy to make it to the final. It started with Roberto Boninsegna scoring to make it 1-0 for Italy. West Germany scrambled for an equalizer with their closest chance coming from Mario Bertini almost puting the ball in his own net. At the 70th minute, West German defender, Franz Beckenbauer, dislocated his shoulder but stayed on the field instead of resting. But he couldn't leave, as West Germany had already made the allowed substitutions (two at the time). Franz could only resist, play until the end of the game. With a bandaged arm along his body. West Germany found it's equalizer with defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger scoring in the 90th minute from short range. At the end of regulation time, the score stayed 1-1 forcing the game to go to extra-time.

Gerd Muller put West Germany ahead by scoring at the 94th minute after a defensive error by Fabrizio Poletti. A substitute. Tarcisio Burgnich scored to tie back the game. And then, a minute before the halfway point of extra time Domenghini was sent through on the left by Gianni Rivera. The winger delivered the ball to the feet of Gigi Riva, who took two touches to turn Schnellinger around before slotting it home past Maier. To equalize, Gerd Muller scored a header to make a brace. This game would although not be a West German victory. Roberto Boninsegna made a pass for Gianni Rivera to score the game-winning goal at the 111th minute. 4-3 for Italy. This game would later be dubbed "The Game of the Century". For this win, Italy would qualify for the final but would loose to Brazil 4-1.

1972 Euros victory

West Germany, still led by Helmut Schon, qualified for the second UEFA European Championship in their history toping a group featuring Poland, Turkey and Albania by 4 points in which Gerd Muller was the top scorer. At the semi-finals, they racked up another victory against Belgium in a match that ended 2-1.

At the final, West Germany faced a previous 1968 Euros fourth-place finisher Soviet Union. The final itself was a one-sided affair, with Netzer and Beckenbauer imperious in midfield and Müller helping himself to yet another brace. Herbert Wimmer scored the other goal as the Germans celebrated a resounding 3-0 success, the largest margin of victory in a UEFA European Championship final until 2012. The Germans celebrated as they had just won their first ever Euro.

1974 World Cup victory on home soil

West Germany won the 1974 World Cup bid as Italy and The Netherlands withdrew. Spain did as such, but in exchange to host the 1982 World Cup. With a new era came a new format as the 16-team field was still divided into four groups, but this time a second group stage replaced the knockout quarterfinal round: the top two teams in each group would then be placed into two groups of four with the winners meeting in the final.

As the hosts, West Germany qualified automatically to the World Cup. However, toping the group still had to be achieved to qualify to the second-round. They were put in a group composed of East Germany, Chile as well as Australia. Unlike the usual, they would finish second under their rivals East Germany by one point as the latter defeated them 1-0. They would still although qualify to the second round. There, they topped their group by 2 points by not racking up a single loss. Because of this, they would make it to the final.

West Germany would be facing the Dutch in the final. But even in their own backyard, West Germany were the underdogs going into the World Cup Final. As led by their talismanic captain Johan Cruyff, the Dutch had moved the footballing world by storm with their Total Football in 1974. But the Germans would show the world once again that their underdog status would not make them loose.