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Sport

06th Jul 2010

From the vault: Great World Cup semi finals, part 1

The epic 1982 semi-final was notable for German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher, who committed an act of GBH before saving twice in the shoot-out.

JOE

Germany 3-3 France (1982)

By Conor Hogan

The date was 8 July 1982, the place was the Ramon Sanchez Stadium, Seville.

Germany were already an unpopular team going into their semi-final against France. After losing their opening game against Algeria, they robbed the North Africans of a place in the second round by agreeing a mutually beneficial result between themselves and Austria.

Polar opposites of their 2010 incarnation, the Germans were solid and efficient, and had dragged themselves to the semi-finals through sheer determination. France on the other hand played with flair, earning themselves the nickname the ‘Brazilians of Europe.’ They were the undoubted neutral’s favourites.

Germany opened the scoring in the 17th minute, when the ball came off French goalkeeper Jean-Luc Ettori and straight into the path of Pierre Littbarski, who drilled it home through a host of French players. Platini equalised in the 25th minute with a penalty, after Jean Rocheteau was fouled.

The match finished 1-1, the most controversial incident occurring in the second half, when German goalkeeper Schumacher absolutely flattened substitute Patrick Battiston. Not only did Dutch referee Charles Corver fail to take the natural course of sending him off, he didn’t even consider the assault a free-kick. Battiston lost two teeth, had three cracked ribs, damaged vertebrae and was unconscious for half an hour.

Extra time was a high-scoring affair, and the French quickly took a 3-1 lead through goals from Marius Tresor and Alain Giresse. But the Germany’s showed their patented never-say-die spirit. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge scored just before half-time in extra-time, before Klaus Fisher equalised in the 108th minute with a bicycle kick.

The match was going to penalties. The hero of the shoot-out was the villain of the story: Toni Schumacher, the man who should have been sent off, the man who had almost killed another player. He saved the penalties of Didier Six and Maxime Bossis, and Germany won the shoot-out 5-4.