European Championship Group 2

Group 2. West Germany, Spain, Portugal, Romania. West Germany was the big favourite and no doubts about it – Spain was a huge disappointment at the 1982 World Cup and never played convincing football; Portugal and Romania were in decline for many years and it was doubtful they started real recovery – to a point, they were simply lucky to qualify. Spain was the only team able to trouble the German machine, was the feeling – and only to trouble, not to overcome.

West Germany

Head coach: Jupp Derwall

No.

Pos.

Player

Date of birth (age)

Caps

Club

1

GK

Harald Schumacher

6 March 1954 (aged 30)

48

Köln

2

DF

Hans-Peter Briegel

11 October 1955 (aged 28)

50

Kaiserslautern

3

DF

Gerd Strack

1 September 1955 (aged 28)

10

Köln

4

DF

Karlheinz Förster

25 July 1958 (aged 25)

58

Stuttgart

5

DF

Bernd Förster

3 May 1956 (aged 28)

30

Stuttgart

6

MF

Wolfgang Rolff

26 December 1959 (aged 24)

10

Hamburg

7

DF

Andreas Brehme

9 November 1960 (aged 23)

5

Kaiserslautern

8

FW

Klaus Allofs

5 December 1956 (aged 27)

29

Köln

9

FW

Rudi Völler

13 April 1960 (aged 24)

15

Werder Bremen

10

MF

Norbert Meier

20 September 1958 (aged 25)

12

Werder Bremen

11

FW

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Captain)

25 September 1955 (aged 28)

75

Bayern Munich

12

GK

Dieter Burdenski

26 November 1950 (aged 33)

12

Werder Bremen

13

MF

Lothar Matthäus

21 March 1961 (aged 23)

23

Borussia Mönchengladbach

14

MF

Ralf Falkenmayer

11 February 1963 (aged 21)

0

Eintracht Frankfurt

15

DF

Uli Stielike

15 November 1954 (aged 29)

38

Real Madrid

16

MF

Hans-Günter Bruns

15 November 1954 (aged 29)

3

Borussia Mönchengladbach

17

MF

Pierre Littbarski

16 April 1960 (aged 24)

26

Köln

18

DF

Guido Buchwald

24 January 1961 (aged 23)

1

Stuttgart

19

MF

Rudolf Bommer

19 August 1957 (aged 26)

4

Fortuna Düsseldorf

20

GK

Helmut Roleder

9 October 1953 (aged 30)

1

Stuttgart

West Germany had great difficulty qualifying to the finals, which, combined with their disgusting performance at the 1982 World Cup was indication of big trouble. The team was practically crucified by German journalists, but this was nothing new – there was no team in the world so mercilessly criticized by domestic journalists for years. The critics were largely right – West Germany played awful football, there were no great players, there were various internal scandals between the players and the coach, Jupp Derwall lost both authority and vision,. The team entered a dangerous path, which was able to somewhat exit only 30 years later – aging. There was not enough bright young talent, so older player were increasingly introduced to the team, or aging stars kept literally until they dropped. The final selection was seen as dangerously weak: Breitner retired, for one or another reason Hansi Muller, Bernd Schuster, and Felix Magath were not in the team. Rummenigge and Stielike aged and were not what they used to be. But there were no replacements in sight – with the possible exception of Rudi Voeller (still entirely unknown quality), the newly introduced players were not just weaker reserves – it was quite clear they were not the future, would not be even regulars for awhile, and there was even sense of desperation in some choices – German football looked impoverished, there were no descent enough players for some posts. ‘New’ players were some aging guys, known more for their limitations than for their qualities – if there was no obvious problem with the back-up goalkeepers (older or younger, no matter – they were not to play a minute, so massive was Schumacher’s superiority), others were a clear display of German problems – Bommer (26 years old), Bruns (29), Meier (25), Strack (28) were hardly the future. None managed to impress so far, it was clear they were not a star material, they were no worse or better than hundreds other mediocre German players. They were not the future, they only made the numbers. So, the next leaders were reduced to Littbarski (24), Matthaus (23 and already transformed from striker to midfielder), Brehme (23), and possibly (at the time, only possibly) Voeller (24) and Buchwald (23). Since the former trio was already established, one thing was already clear – none of the future leaders had the playing and leading qualities of Beckenbauer, Netzer, Overath, Breitner, Gerd Muller. These were plainer players, more limited. Even Schuster, who exploded in 1980, looked like a player from another universe, compared to the other younger stars, with whom he shared the same generation. Most of the German problems were objective and Jupp Derwall added to them hos own inability to keep peace and make players follow his ideas. And he was short of ideas by now… But whatever the problems, there was something peculiarly German and nobody would dare to discard West Germany out of hand – the German team always raised to the occasion. There were troubles before, yet, come finals and it was transformed team. The team even could struggle for a part of a tournament, but the right formula would be find on the road and at the end God help the opposition. Weak and disgusting they were in 1982, but reached the World Cup final – West Germany was always a big favourite and the danger was in that if weak, it was still able to prevail. Cannot be fooled by German weakness – it was a team able of quick and deadly recovery. And West Germany remained prime favourite at the 1984 finals, expected to win.

Spain

Head coach: Miguel Muñoz

No.

Pos.

Player

Date of birth (age)

Caps

Club

1

GK

Luis Arconada (Captain)

26 June 1954 (aged 29)

57

Real Sociedad

2

DF

Santiago Urquiaga

18 April 1958 (aged 26)

9

Athletic Bilbao

3

DF

José Antonio Camacho

8 June 1955 (aged 29)

48

Real Madrid

4

DF

Antonio Maceda

16 May 1957 (aged 27)

18

Sporting Gijón

5

DF

Andoni Goikoetxea

23 May 1956 (aged 28)

12

Athletic Bilbao

6

DF

Rafael Gordillo

24 February 1957 (aged 27)

49

Real Betis

7

MF

Juan Antonio Señor

26 August 1958 (aged 25)

15

Real Zaragoza

8

MF

Víctor Muñoz

15 March 1957 (aged 27)

20

Barcelona

9

FW

Santillana

23 August 1952 (aged 31)

48

Real Madrid

10

MF

Ricardo Gallego

8 February 1959 (aged 25)

12

Real Madrid

11

FW

Francisco José Carrasco

6 March 1959 (aged 25)

21

Barcelona

12

DF

Salvador García

4 March 1961 (aged 23)

3

Real Zaragoza

13

GK

Francisco Buyo

13 January 1958 (aged 26)

2

Sevilla

14

DF

Julio Alberto Moreno

7 October 1958 (aged 25)

5

Barcelona

15

MF

Roberto Fernández

5 July 1962 (aged 21)

2

Valencia

16

MF

Francisco López

1 November 1962 (aged 21)

5

Sevilla

17

FW

Marcos Alonso

1 October 1959 (aged 24)

19

Barcelona

18

FW

Emilio Butragueño

22 July 1963 (aged 20)

0

Real Madrid

19

FW

Manuel Sarabia

9 January 1957 (aged 27)

8

Athletic Bilbao

20

GK

Andoni Zubizarreta

23 October 1961 (aged 22)

0

Athletic Bilbao

Most likely second placed. Not because Spain was really strong – it was pretty much the same squad which failed miserably at the World Cup – but because it was tough team to beat and the opponents were beatable. A matter of odds rather than class.

Portugal.

Head coach: Fernando Cabrita

No.

Pos.

Player

Date of birth (age)

Caps

Club

1

GK

Manuel Bento (Captain)

25 June 1948 (aged 35)

 

Benfica

2

FW

Tamagnini Nené

20 November 1949 (aged 34)

 

Benfica

3

FW

Rui Jordão

9 August 1952 (aged 31)

 

Sporting CP

4

MF

Fernando Chalana

10 February 1959 (aged 25)

 

Benfica

5

MF

Vermelhinho

9 March 1959 (aged 25)

 

Porto

6

FW

Fernando Gomes

22 November 1956 (aged 27)

 

Porto

7

MF

Carlos Manuel

15 January 1958 (aged 26)

 

Benfica

8

DF

António Veloso

31 January 1957 (aged 27)

 

Benfica

9

DF

João Pinto

21 November 1961 (aged 22)

 

Porto

10

DF

António Lima Pereira

1 February 1952 (aged 32)

 

Porto

11

DF

Eurico Gomes

29 September 1955 (aged 28)

 

Porto

12

GK

Jorge Martins

12 August 1954 (aged 29)

 

Vitória de Setúbal

13

MF

António Sousa

28 April 1957 (aged 27)

 

Porto

14

MF

António Frasco

16 January 1955 (aged 29)

 

Porto

15

MF

Jaime Pacheco

22 July 1958 (aged 25)

 

Porto

16

MF

António Bastos Lopes

19 November 1953 (aged 30)

 

Benfica

17

DF

Álvaro Monteiro

3 January 1961 (aged 23)

 

Benfica

18

DF

Eduardo Luís

6 January 1955 (aged 29)

 

Porto

19

FW

Diamantino Miranda

3 August 1959 (aged 24)

 

Benfica

20

GK

Vítor Damas

8 October 1947 (aged 36)

 

Portimonense

 

Emerging from a long decline, but Portugal was just lucky to reach the finals – their 0-5 loss to USSR in the qualification group was not forgotten. The key players were not young and easily related to the generation of the 1970s, which failed in every tournament – it was difficult to imagine that Damas, Bento, Nene, Jordao, Eurico, Bastos Lopes, Martins, Frasco would suddenly play stronger than before. It was just great to reach finals of major tournament, but no more than that.

Romania

Head coach: Mircea Lucescu

No.

Pos.

Player

Date of birth (age)

Caps

Club

1

GK

Silviu Lung

9 September 1956 (aged 27)

 

Universitatea Craiova

2

DF

Mircea Rednic

19 April 1962 (aged 22)

 

Dinamo Bucureşti

3

DF

Costică Ştefănescu (Captain)

26 March 1951 (aged 33)

 

Universitatea Craiova

4

DF

Nicolae Ungureanu

11 November 1956 (aged 27)

 

Universitatea Craiova

5

MF

Aurel Ţicleanu

20 January 1959 (aged 25)

 

Universitatea Craiova

6

DF

Gino Iorgulescu

15 May 1956 (aged 28)

 

Sportul Studenţesc

7

FW

Marcel Coraş

14 May 1959 (aged 25)

 

Sportul Studenţesc

8

DF

Michael Klein

10 October 1959 (aged 24)

 

Corvinul Hunedoara

9

FW

Rodion Cămătaru

22 June 1958 (aged 25)

 

Universitatea Craiova

10

MF

László Bölöni

11 March 1953 (aged 31)

 

ASA Târgu Mureș

11

MF

Gheorghe Hagi

5 February 1965 (aged 19)

 

Sportul Studenţesc

12

GK

Dumitru Moraru

1 May 1956 (aged 28)

 

Dinamo Bucureşti

13

DF

Ioan Andone

15 March 1960 (aged 24)

 

Dinamo Bucureşti

14

MF

Mircea Irimescu

13 May 1959 (aged 25)

 

Universitatea Craiova

15

MF

Marin Dragnea

1 January 1956 (aged 28)

 

Dinamo Bucureşti

16

DF

Nicolae Negrilă

23 July 1954 (aged 29)

 

Universitatea Craiova

17

FW

Ion Adrian Zare

11 May 1959 (aged 25)

 

Bihor

18

MF

Ionel Augustin

11 October 1955 (aged 28)

 

Dinamo Bucureşti

19

FW

Romulus Gabor

14 October 1961 (aged 22)

 

Corvinul Hunedoara

20

GK

Vasile Iordache

9 October 1950 (aged 33)

 

Steaua Bucureşti

 

The big enigma – Romania not only suffered during the 1970s similarly to Portugal, but actually dropped out of sight. People were hard pressed to recall even a single name of Romanian player apart from Dudu Georgescu, the great scorer. So, it was unknown team, led by unknown coach… hardly something impressive, it was easily assumed. Romania was expected to finish last in the group – giving some trouble to the other teams, but losing at the end of the day. Anonymity was also a blessing – it was a carefully made team with plenty of experience: the player, coming to the Euro finals with most caps was Rummenigge, but after him were two Romanian players. It was a good blend of old players and bright young talent, yet unknown. And they had young coach, also unknown. All that was to be discovered soon and not just few names to become familiar – Gheorghe Hagi was starting his illustrious career. And today everybody knows who Mircea Lucescu is.