Europeo 1980 Finals-Third Place and Final
The Third-place match took place on June 21st, 1980 at
Naples, with the Italian hosts taking on Czechoslovakia.
For three days, Belgium and Czechoslovakia were in the same hotel
‘Hotel Selene’ at Pomezia.
Italian journalists speculated that Belgium Manager Guy Thys might
have given pointers to Venglos on how to play against the Italians.
The attendance was once again below expectations (25,000) but understandable
since Italy had not reached the Final.
The Czechs named an unchanged side from their last match. Italy
made three changes from their match vs. Belgium. Gabriele Oriali, Romeo
Benetti and the injured Giancarlo Antognoni were out of the squad replaced
by Antonio Cabrini,
Giuseppe Baresi and Alessandro Altobelli.
This match would be remembered for the marathon penalty kick
shoot-out.
The Czechs took the lead in the 54th minute
with Jurkemik scoring
from a long range shot from outside of the box.
Francesco Graziani tied the match for the hosts with a header in
the 73rd minute.
The match remained tied and therefore a penalty kick shoot-out was
required.
This process dragged on and ultimately each side needed nine penalty
kicks.
Both sides scored their first eight attempts. Barmos would score
Czechoslovakia’s ninth attempt, while Collovati missed Italy’s ninth and the
Czechs were winners.
Afterwards Czechoslovakia Manager Josef Venglos felt the
result encouraged his team to aim higher in the future.
Italy Manager Enzo Bearzot declared he would not make many changes
to the National Team despite pleas from certain sections of the press.
This would be the last Third Place match in the History of the
Euros to this day, as the whole Third Place match was scrapped afterwards for
the subsequent Euros.
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Photo From: France Football, Issue
1976, February 21, 1984
|
(June 21, 1980, UEFA European
Championships, Italy 1-Czechoslovakia 1) |
 |
Photo From :
Calcio 2000, Issue 25, December 1999
|
(June 21, 1980, UEFA European
Championships, Italy 1-Czechoslovakia 1) |
On the next day (June 22nd), West Germany and Belgium
faced off in Rome for the Final.
West Germany welcomed back Schuster, Dietz and Allofs, who had
been withdrawn from the last match vs. Greece to avoid any yellow cards.
The Germans kept their 4-3-3 formation, they had since their
tactical reshuffle from the Holland match,
Belgium maintained the same side as their last match vs. Italy
as Thys chose Mommens once more ahead of Erwin Vandenbergh for a 4-4-2
formation.
Once again, the crowd (48,000) was very low considering this was
a Final, though it would be fair to assume that it would have been larger had
Italy reached the Final.
West Germany took the lead as early as the 10th minute.
Schuster found Hrubesch at the edge of the box, who chested his pass and
powerfully shot past Pfaff.
The Germans would keep the lead for most of the match. In the 72nd minute
Belgium tied through a penalty kick by Rene Vandereycken. Stielike was adjudged
to have fouled Van Der Elst (though it was most likely just outside the box).
The match appeared to be headed for a tie, when with two minutes
remaining West Germany were awarded a corner on the left side. Rummenigge took
the corner and Hrubesch headed in the winner.
West Germany became the UEFA European Champions for the second
time (the last one was in 1972).
After the match, Derwall stated, “We dominated first half and could have scored one or two
more goals…..I admit I was worried after Belgium’s tying goal as my players
were tired. Fortunately, they had the required reaction in the last minutes and
Hrubesch who is a funny winner placed a decisive header. I am happy, you must
understand me.”
Belgian Manager Guy Thys acknowledged West Germany were better and
worthy winners.
In the aftermath of this Tournament, the most glaring aspect had
been the poor attendances. Many speculated that the Italians in a way boycotted
the Tournament in protest over the ‘Totonero’ scandal.
In total there were 347, 738 total fans in these Euros, the most
spectators were for the Italy-England match (59, 649).
As far as the Champions West Germany, they had a poor debut and
the disappointing Libero Cullmann and Bernd Forster were dropped as Derwall
made a successful tactical reshuffle, by moving Stielieke from the midfield
into the Libero position. He also unleashed Schuster and Hrubesch to great
effect.
Klaus Allofs, Hrubesch and especially Schuster and Briegel were
revelations.
Briegel stated, “two years ago I would have never believed to be
in National Team”, now he was a star and would remain in the National Team pool
until 1986.
The Final’s Double goalscorer Hrubesch had also taken his
opportunity. Former Italy Manager Fulvio Bernardini described him as “a real
boa” because of his headers.
For Belgian Manager Guy Thys, his Team’s player of the Tournament
was Jan Ceulemans. Others to stand out were goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff and
Gerets.
The Italian hosts appeared in regression compared to the 1978
World Cup and had trouble scoring. Of course, they were missing Paolo Rossi,
one of their heroes of the 1978 World Cup. The ‘Totonero’ had wrecked Enzo
Bearzot’s plans.
As far as the future of this Tournament, this new format of Two
Groups was here to stay and would only enlarge in the decades after.
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Photo From: Guerin Sportivo, Numero 26 (293), June 25-July
1, 1980
|
(June 22, 1980, UEFA European Championships,
West Germany 2-Belgium 1) |
 |
Photo From: Onze, Issue 55, July 1980
|
(June 22, 1980, UEFA European Championships,
West Germany 2-Belgium 1) |
Photo From: Chronik des deutschen fussballs,
2005
|
(West Germany squad, June 22, 1980, UEFA
European Championships, West Germany 2-Belgium 1) |
Notes:
1-Team
of the Tournament (as selected by Journalists):
Goalkeeper: Luis Arconada (Spain)
Defenders: Claudio Gentile (Italy),
Ruud Krol (Holland), Fulvio Collovati (Italy), Manfred Kaltz (West Germany)
Midfielders: Bernd Schuster (West
Germany), Wilfried van Moer (Belgium), Hani Muller (West Germany)
Strikers: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West
Germany), Klaus Allofs (West Germany), Jan Ceulemans (Belgium)
2-Italy
manager Enzo Bearzot was asked to select his Team of the Tournament (before the
Final match).
He
intentionally did not choose any Italians.
Goalkeeper: Ray Clemence (England)
Defenders: Dave Watson (England), Ruud
Krol (Holland), Eric Gerets (Belgium), Manfred Kaltz (West Germany)
Midfielders: Frantisek Stambachr (Czechoslovakia), Ray Wilkins (England), Hani
Muller (West Germany)
Strikers: Kevin Keegan (England),
Zdenek Nehoda (Czechoslovakia), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany)
3-During the Finals,
Holland’s Arie Haan was surpsirsed to read that his “Manager” had proposed him
to Napoli. This was because, he was his own Manager.
4-The day after West
Germany-Czechoslovakia match, the West German defender Manfred Katz learned
that his house was burglarized.
5-West
Germany’s Lothar Matthaus, aged 19, was the youngest player in the 1980
Europeo.
6-After
the Holland-Greece match on June 11th, 1980, Dutchman Dirk Nanninga had to explain 27 times to journalists the
circumstances of his penalty call.
In addition, following this
match both van der Kerkhof twins were injured on the same calf.
7-A 65-year olf West German
named Fritz Neumann of Frankfurt, bicycled 850 miles to Rome for the opening
game at Rome between West Germany and Czechoslovakia on June 11th,
1980.
8-Two hours before West
Germany-Greece match on June 17th, 1980, there was a bomb crank call
to West Germany’s Hotel, “Holiday Inn St Peter”.
9-West Germany’s bonuses were
to be broken down as follows for each player:
First Round 10,000 Marks Each
Second Place 20,000 Marks
Each
Champion 30,000 Marks Each
10-Before the start of the
competition, Italy players visited cemetery of Ponderano to visit resting place
of former Italy Manager Vittorio Pozzo.
11-Belgian striker Erwin
Vandengbergh married on a Friday and left on a Tuesday to Belgian National Team
camp.
12-During
the Finals, Jupp Derwall’s Assistants Dietrich Weise and Erich Ribbeck flew to
watch all the matches of other teams to observe and take notes on future
opponents.
13-Leading up to the England-Belgium match, the Belgium squad had
threatened a strike. The players wanted more than double the £1,250 win bonus offered by the Federation,
The Federation threatened the players with a three-year ban.
Wilfried Van Moer convinced the squad to continue negotiations and in the end
the players received a promise of extra £600 per point.
14- Italy’s Gabriel Oriali felt under-appreciated by his club,
especially after the match vs. England. He stated, “I wish people at
Internazionale would give me the credit I get when I play for Italy. I know
we’ve just become Italian champions, but if Juventus came in with an offer for
me tomorrow, I’d jump at it.”
References:
Four Four Two, Issue 118,
June 2004
France Football, Issue 1783,
June 10, 1980
France Football, Issue 1784,
June 17, 1980
France Football, Issue 1785,
June 24, 1980
Guerin Sportivo, Numero 24
(291), June 11-June 17, 1980
Guerin Sportivo, Numero 25
(292), June 18-June 24, 1980
Guerin Sportivo, Numero 25
(293), June 25-July 1, 1980
Mondial, New series, issue 5,
August 1980
Onze, Issue 55, July 1980
World Soccer, June 1980
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