The Cup final opposed interesting contenders: Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund. Both teams won the trophy before, but each only once and that long time ago – Werder in 1961 and Borussia in 1965. For Borussia 1965 was the only successful year since the creation of the Bundesliga in 1963 – the club actually went through a long period of decline and reemerged only in the 1980s, but so far without winning anything. Werder, although not always strong, was also enjoying strong period after a decline and won the German title in 1988. Both teams craved success and Werder seemingly had better chance – but in the final Borussia destroyed them 4-1.
Borussia Dortmund triumphed. The winners – second row from left: Horst Koppel – coach, Norbert Dickel, Thomas Helmer, Michael Zorc, Konrad (?), Henke (?) – assistant coach, Bernd Storck, Thomas Kroth, Michael Rummenigge, Matthias Rulander. Crouching: Gunter Breitzke, Gunter Kutowski, Wiegand – masseur, Wolfgang de Beer, Andreas Moller, Frank Mill, Murdo MacLeod, Michael Lusch.
Werder failed… and they lost badly on top of it. The loss reveals how far one can go with limited squad – certainly Otto Rehhagel achieved a lot with a team of mostly second-raters, but such a team cannot run endlessly. Burgsmuller, Votava, Borowka, Ordenewitz were getting old and even at their prime were rarely called to the national team. Reck and Rollmann were not national team material. The Norwegian Bratseth, Riedle, and Eilts were the current brightest players and the two Germans were just climbing up and making themselves known. It was short base for continues success – limits are limits.
Frankly, Borussia Dortmund was expected to have a bigger impact on German football for some years and it was coming to the point that some victory was a must – either that, or decline… Luckily, Borussia did not miss the crucial moment and won. It was a great moment by all means: Borussia won its second Cup and it was the first trophy after 1965 – a long wait, which, until recently, was generally going down and spending years in Second Division. Restoring their name was slow and without some success… but it came at last and opened the door for greater times. As for the team, it was still promising, but similar to what Werder had, only hungrier. The triumph came under coach Horst Koppel, who apparently replaced Saftig either just before the start of the season, or during the season. Koppel, well remembered as a player, somewhat match his squad – once upon a time he was well respected and successful player, who played a bit for the national team, but he was never a prime star. Now he had similar players – Michael Rummenigge, Frank Mill, Murdo MacLeod, Wolfgang de Beer. And along them, young bright talent – Andreas Moller and Thomas Helmer. Not a team equal to Bayern’s squad, but similar to Werder’s, only slightly younger, a bit classier, and more hungry. The boys succeeded, but the team needed reinforcement in order of becoming a truly leading team. That for the future – presently, it was great joy.
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