The intensity of the occasion only inspired the debutant who fired in two goals to give his country a 3-1 win. Read | Günter Netzer: the rebellious loner who became a hero The stakes couldn’t have been much higher for his debut, away against local rivals Austria in front of 72,000 fans, the two nations tied at the top of the qualifying group. Just as with his club, he was thrust into a settled squad that had experienced recent success, with Die Mannschaft the reigning European champions and boasting a 100 percent record in World Cup qualifying. Litti’s freer role would eventually see him net at a rate of a goal every two matches for Köln over a golden four-year period a remarkable return for a player who was never an out-and-out striker.Īt just 21, Littbarski was selected for West Germany. The tweak to his position and the player’s growing maturity saw goals added to his all-round game. The Berliner, adept with both feet, flourished in his adapted role and soon his trademark dribbles were just as likely to be in and around the penalty box as out on the flank. The astute coach saw that playing up and down one vertical channel would limit his protégé’s creative potential and so he encouraged Littbarski to drift in from the wing and become more involved in the team’s attacks from all areas of the field. The young Littbarski looked every inch the traditional winger – quick, tricky and slight – yet Weisweiler felt there was more to his game than simply hugging the touchline and whipping in crosses. ![]() The move was an ambitious one but the 18-year-old soon made his Bundesliga debut and, before long, ‘Litti’ was a firm favourite among the Müngersdorfer faithful. These were heady times at Köln under the management of the legendary Hennes Weisweiler, with Die Geißböcke – The Billy Goats – having recently won the league and cup double. He joined local club Hertha 03 Berlin-Zehlendorf as a teenager before his precocious dribbling skills were spotted by FC Köln and he moved west in 1978. Pierre Michael Littbarski was born in West Berlin in 1960. But he was never one to be daunted by the big occasion. And it all came in the first exchanges of the biggest match of the 22-year-old’s life. His tenacity to win the ball, his desire to get forward and his creative intent was all captured in 15 seconds of football. Suddenly, he was in the Italian third and – after a neat exchange of passes with Fischer – he cut the ball onto his left foot and fired a shot from 25 yards that was saved by Dino Zoff. ![]() Instantly, he flicked the ball deftly over Claudio Gentile’s boot before skipping past the retreating Tardelli. There was nothing but the touchline tight to his left and a glut of Italian players in front of him. Read | How Gerd Müller’s 1971/72 season propelled him to greatnessįirst, he slide-tackled Marco Tardelli in the German half before retrieving the ball. Footballing convention states that in the edgy opening stages of a high-pressure game, it should be a time to keep possession, for a team and its players to patiently feel their way into the match. The first minute of the World Cup final encapsulated everything I loved about the German number 7. ![]() As one of the smallest in my school class, I immediately identified with the little man, and in a World Cup containing more individual talent than any I remember, I was happy to allow my friends to pretend to be Zico, Diego Maradona, Michel Platini or Paolo Rossi in our kickabouts, just as long as I could be Littbarski. At just five feet six inches tall with a willowy frame, his appearance jarred like a bantamweight in a heavyweight division. ![]() Littbarski contradicted the athletic, muscular image of teammates like Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Hans-Peter Briegel and Klaus Fischer. And for this, there was one reason: Pierre Littbarski. Even in their own country, Jupp Derwall’s squad was – and still is – far from revered, owing to a cynical edge that at times bordered on the Machiavellian.įrom the ignominy of a first match loss against a shamefully underrated Algeria team – “We will dedicate the seventh goal to our wives, and the eighth to our dogs,” one German player was said to have boasted before the 2-1 defeat – to the Schande von Gijón in which a 1-0 victory over Austria was cosily engineered to send both teams through at the expense of the Germans’ North African conquerors, right through to the classic semi-final versus France and Schumacher’s infamous foul that nearly killed Patrick Battiston, this team did little to dispel the lazy post-war national stereotypes that still abounded in British culture at that time.Īnd yet, as a seven-year-old growing up in England, I was desperate for West Germany to beat Italy in the final. DESPITE REACHING THE FINAL, it’s fair to say that the West German team at the 1982 World Cup would scarcely make it onto anyone’s list of most popular international sides.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |