Group 1. West Germany, Italy, Spain, and Denmark.
Manager: Franz Beckenbauer
No.
Pos.
Player
Date of birth (age)
Caps
Club
1
1GK
Eike Immel
(1960-11-27)27 November 1960 (aged 27)
15
VfB Stuttgart
2
2DF
Guido Buchwald
(1961-01-24)24 January 1961 (aged 27)
18
VfB Stuttgart
3
2DF
Andreas Brehme
(1960-11-09)9 November 1960 (aged 27)
36
Bayern Munich
4
2DF
Jürgen Kohler
(1965-10-06)6 October 1965 (aged 22)
15
1. FC Köln
5
2DF
Matthias Herget
(1955-11-14)14 November 1955 (aged 32)
34
KFC Uerdingen
6
2DF
Uli Borowka
(1962-05-19)19 May 1962 (aged 26)
2
Werder Bremen
7
3MF
Pierre Littbarski
(1960-04-16)16 April 1960 (aged 28)
53
1. FC Köln
8
3MF
Lothar Matthäus (captain)
(1961-03-21)21 March 1961 (aged 27)
61
Bayern Munich
9
4FW
Rudi Völler
(1960-04-13)13 April 1960 (aged 28)
49
Roma
10
3MF
Olaf Thon
(1966-05-01)1 May 1966 (aged 22)
24
Schalke 04
11
4FW
Frank Mill
(1958-07-23)23 July 1958 (aged 29)
10
Borussia Dortmund
12
1GK
Bodo Illgner
(1967-04-07)7 April 1967 (aged 21)
3
1. FC Köln
13
3MF
Wolfram Wuttke
(1961-11-17)17 November 1961 (aged 26)
3
1. FC Kaiserslautern
14
2DF
Thomas Berthold
(1964-11-12)12 November 1964 (aged 23)
26
Hellas Verona
15
2DF
Hans Pflügler
(1960-03-27)27 March 1960 (aged 28)
6
Bayern Munich
16
4FW
Dieter Eckstein
(1964-03-12)12 March 1964 (aged 24)
5
1. FC Nürnberg
17
3MF
Hans Dorfner
(1965-07-03)3 July 1965 (aged 22)
5
Bayern Munich
18
4FW
Jürgen Klinsmann
(1964-07-30)30 July 1964 (aged 23)
5
VfB Stuttgart
19
2DF
Gunnar Sauer
(1964-06-11)11 June 1964 (aged 23)
0
Werder Bremen
20
3MF
Wolfgang Rolff
(1959-12-26)26 December 1959 (aged 28)
31
Bayer Leverkusen
Not just a favourite, but The favourite – the mighty Germans were playing at home.By now the lack of coaching diploma which was a problem with the acceptance of Beckenbauer was pretty much swallowed, but there were other problems. As noisy as they were, the scandals with the best goalkeepers were not the biggest problem – both Tony Schumacher and Uli Stein were expelled from the national team. The first for his ‘tell-it-all’ book; the second – because of various scandals and frictions, the final drop of whcih was his physical attack on Bayern’s player at the 1987 German Supercup final. But both keepers were already getting old and their replacement was somethink kept in mind – and there were good enough youngsters, who promptly stepped in – Eike Immel already had 15 games for BRD and Bodo Illgner, only 21 years old – 3 games. Yet, after the 1986 World Cup a bunch of players announced their retirement from the national team – K-H. Rummenigge, Briegel, Magath, D. Hoeness, Eder, Jacobs, Allofs. Karl-Heinz Forster was out due to health problems too. Beckenbauer tried 17 new players between the World Cup and the Euro finals, and some made it to his final selesction, but doubts remained – some players failed to deliver in important games. That concerned Matthaus and Littbarski mainly, but Olaf Thon,who was considered the prime replacement of Matthaus was somewhat similar and also failed to shine when it mattered most. The whole team played in allarming way – during preparation there were few brilliant games, but moct were just bland. Since German journalists traditionally were highly critical, perhaps their vitriol was not all that important – bogger concern, voiced by Beckenbauer, was the lack of offical games. Not a new concern in itsled – for years hosts of bit tournaments complained from that, although if they had to play in qualifying rounds most certainly they would have complained too, but this time was slightly different: Beckenbauer was trying to build new squad and badly needed games which actually mattered in order of shping and steeling his team. As a whole, the selection was somewhat short – there were more or less stange players in it, who seemingly just made the required numbers and the actual team was perhaps 15-16 players. Not enough talent in West Germany… that was the real problem, but still the Germans were prime favourite and expected to win.
Italy.
Manager: Azeglio Vicini
No.
Pos.
Player
Date of birth (age)
Caps
Club
1
1GK
Walter Zenga
(1960-04-28)28 April 1960 (aged 28)
17
Internazionale
2
2DF
Franco Baresi
(1960-05-08)8 May 1960 (aged 28)
21
Milan
3
2DF
Giuseppe Bergomi
(1963-12-22)22 December 1963 (aged 24)
46
Internazionale
4
2DF
Roberto Cravero
(1964-01-03)3 January 1964 (aged 24)
0
Torino
5
2DF
Ciro Ferrara
(1967-02-11)11 February 1967 (aged 21)
4
Napoli
6
2DF
Riccardo Ferri
(1963-08-20)20 August 1963 (aged 24)
12
Internazionale
7
2DF
Giovanni Francini
(1963-08-03)3 August 1963 (aged 24)
7
Napoli
8
2DF
Paolo Maldini
(1968-06-26)26 June 1968 (aged 19)
3
Milan
9
3MF
Carlo Ancelotti
(1959-06-10)10 June 1959 (aged 29)
17
Milan
10
3MF
Luigi De Agostini
(1963-04-07)7 April 1963 (aged 25)
10
Juventus
11
3MF
Fernando De Napoli
(1964-03-15)15 March 1964 (aged 24)
21
Napoli
12
1GK
Stefano Tacconi
(1957-05-13)13 May 1957 (aged 31)
1
Juventus
13
3MF
Luca Fusi
(1963-06-07)7 June 1963 (aged 25)
1
Sampdoria
14
3MF
Giuseppe Giannini
(1964-08-20)20 August 1964 (aged 23)
15
Roma
15
3MF
Francesco Romano
(1960-04-25)25 April 1960 (aged 28)
0
Napoli
16
4FW
Alessandro Altobelli (captain)
(1955-11-28)28 November 1955 (aged 32)
57
Internazionale
17
3MF
Roberto Donadoni
(1963-09-09)9 September 1963 (aged 24)
16
Milan
18
4FW
Roberto Mancini
(1964-11-27)27 November 1964 (aged 23)
13
Sampdoria
19
4FW
Ruggiero Rizzitelli
(1967-09-02)2 September 1967 (aged 20)
2
Cesena
20
4FW
Gianluca Vialli
(1964-07-09)9 July 1964 (aged 23)
25
Sampdoria
Well, Italy, like Wst Germany, is always a favourite. It was those two teams immediately thought of the winners of this group and who was to be first and who second was not important. True, Italy missed the 1984 Euroepan finals and played rather poorly at the 1986 World Cup, but it was Italy. Reputation. The team was hardly great, there were problems, it was somewhat in the process of rebuilding – but it was Italy! However, it was quite a short team and also surprirsingly young squad for Italy. There was bright young talent – Vialli, Mancini, Donadoni, Giannini, Maldini. Bergomi, an old hand already, was only 24 years old. Altobelli and Franco Baresi provided experience. Zenga was very stable between the goalposts. But it was a team not fully balanced and having players who would not have been selected 7-8 years earlier – Ferrara, Ferri, Tacconi, Fusi, Romano. If the squad was compared to some teams from the 1970s, it was rather impoverished, but compared to contemporary teams from elsewhere – it was not only stronger, but having raising stars – it was a team on ascent. And it was Italy – so, big favorit on paper.
Spain.
Manager: Miguel Muñoz
No.
Pos.
Player
Date of birth (age)
Caps
Club
1
1GK
Andoni Zubizarreta
(1961-10-23)23 October 1961 (aged 26)
15
Barcelona
2
2DF
Tomás Reñones
(1960-08-09)9 August 1960 (aged 27)
31
Atlético Madrid
3
2DF
José Antonio Camacho (captain)
(1955-06-08)8 June 1955 (aged 33)
73
Real Madrid
4
2DF
Genar Andrinúa
(1964-05-09)9 May 1964 (aged 24)
6
Athletic Bilbáo
5
3MF
Víctor Muñoz
(1957-03-15)15 March 1957 (aged 31)
44
Barcelona
6
3MF
Ramón Calderé
(1959-01-16)16 January 1959 (aged 29)
21
Barcelona
7
4FW
Julio Salinas
(1962-09-11)11 September 1962 (aged 25)
30
Atlético Madrid
8
2DF
Manuel Sanchís
(1965-03-23)23 March 1965 (aged 23)
13
Real Madrid
9
4FW
Emilio Butragueño
(1963-07-22)22 July 1963 (aged 24)
19
Real Madrid
10
4FW
Eloy
(1964-07-10)10 July 1964 (aged 23)
32
Sporting Gijón
11
2DF
Rafael Gordillo
(1957-02-24)24 February 1957 (aged 31)
61
Real Madrid
12
2DF
Diego Rodríguez Fernández
(1960-04-20)20 April 1960 (aged 28)
1
Real Betis
13
1GK
Francisco Buyo
(1958-01-13)13 January 1958 (aged 30)
2
Real Madrid
14
3MF
Ricardo Gallego
(1959-02-08)8 February 1959 (aged 29)
44
Real Madrid
15
3MF
Eusebio
(1964-04-13)13 April 1964 (aged 24)
17
Atlético Madrid
16
3MF
José Mari Bakero
(1963-02-11)11 February 1963 (aged 25)
3
Real Sociedad
17
3MF
Txiki Begiristain
(1964-08-12)12 August 1964 (aged 23)
12
Real Sociedad
18
2DF
Miquel Soler
(1965-03-13)13 March 1965 (aged 23)
23
Espanyol
19
3MF
Rafael Martín Vázquez
(1965-09-25)25 September 1965 (aged 22)
3
Real Madrid
20
3MF
Míchel
(1963-03-23)23 March 1963 (aged 25)
1
Real Madrid
Can’t call Spain an outsider, but certainly they were not considered a favourite. And not seen as going ahead – may be third in the group, no more. The reason was obvious: after bright and highly promising 1984 European finals Spain went back to its old ways – tough, rough, but rather shapeless team with significant deficiancies. The bigger problem was the attack – except ‘the Vulture’ Butrageno, nobody. It was quite an young squad, making the situation even worse in a sense – there was significant lack of quality players not just right now, but also in the years to come.
Denmark.
Manager: Sepp Piontek
No.
Pos.
Player
Date of birth (age)
Caps
Club
1
1GK
Troels Rasmussen
(1961-04-07)7 April 1961 (aged 27)
27
AGF
2
2DF
John Sivebæk
(1961-10-25)25 October 1961 (aged 26)
49
Saint-Étienne
3
2DF
Søren Busk
(1953-04-10)10 April 1953 (aged 35)
59
Wiener SC
4
2DF
Morten Olsen (captain)
(1949-08-14)14 August 1949 (aged 38)
95
1. FC Köln
5
2DF
Ivan Nielsen
(1956-10-09)9 October 1956 (aged 31)
42
PSV
6
3MF
Søren Lerby
(1958-02-01)1 February 1958 (aged 30)
64
PSV
7
3MF
John Helt
(1959-12-29)29 December 1959 (aged 28)
15
Lyngby
8
3MF
Per Frimann
(1962-06-04)4 June 1962 (aged 26)
14
AGF
9
2DF
Jan Heintze
(1963-08-17)17 August 1963 (aged 24)
5
PSV
10
4FW
Preben Elkjær
(1957-09-11)11 September 1957 (aged 30)
67
Hellas Verona
11
3MF
Michael Laudrup
(1964-06-15)15 June 1964 (aged 23)
43
Juventus
12
2DF
Lars Olsen
(1961-02-02)2 February 1961 (aged 27)
11
Brøndby
13
3MF
John Jensen
(1965-05-03)3 May 1965 (aged 23)
12
Brøndby
14
3MF
Jesper Olsen
(1961-03-20)20 March 1961 (aged 27)
40
Manchester United
15
4FW
Flemming Povlsen
(1966-12-03)3 December 1966 (aged 21)
11
1. FC Köln
16
1GK
Peter Schmeichel
(1963-11-18)18 November 1963 (aged 24)
6
Brøndby
17
3MF
Klaus Berggreen
(1958-02-03)3 February 1958 (aged 30)
43
Torino
18
4FW
John Eriksen
(1957-11-20)20 November 1957 (aged 30)
14
Servette
19
2DF
Bjørn Kristensen
(1963-10-10)10 October 1963 (aged 24)
7
AGF
20
3MF
Kim Vilfort
(1962-11-15)15 November 1962 (aged 25)
9
Brøndby
By now the ‘Danish dynamite’ was a thing of the past for most specialists – they reached their peak, aged, and inevitably were desecending. After their great 1986 World Cup fiasc0 – 1-5 against Spain – they were practically written off. What can you, Denmark had a small pool of players and a great generation was something isolated, happening only once. Traditionally, the Danes were modest and now they were seen modest again. Peter Schmeichel, already 24, was unknown back-up goalkeeper, for instance. Yes, Michael Laudrup was young and recognized already as great ney star, but… the wait of years was heavier: Morten Olsen was 38, Busk – 35, Lerby – 30, Elkjaer-Larsen – 30, Ivan Nielsen – 31, Bergreen – 31. So… aging and not the same as before, a finished team. No way they could go ahead, most likely to finish last in the group.