Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.
Germany
Holland
Surnamese-Dutch,
North Holland, South Holand.
The rest of Netherlands excluding North and South Holland
Nethertlands All-Time Team After Johan Cruyff
Netherlands 2002
Germany All-Time Team After Beckenbauer
Germany All-Time Team before 1972
West Germany played against Netherlands at the round of 16 during the WC Finals in 1990. This game is not an forgotten, great game, but it is not as well-known as Brazil-France(1986), Argentina-England(1986), West Germany-France(1982). Italy-Brazil(1982), etc.
Background
-- The German-Dutch rivalry was probably at its peak. Holland was the 1988 European Championship, a title won in West Germany. The match at Euro 1988 was brutal. Ronald Koeman insulted the Germans by pretending to wrap his arse with an exchanged jersey from Olaf Thon. At the WC Qualifiers, Netherlands and West Germany were also grouped together. Netherlands finished ahead of West Germany at the 1990 World Cup Qualifiers. They were among the favourites to win the World Cup.
-- Van Bastien, Gullit and Rijkaard played for AC Milan while Klinsmann, Matthaues and Brehme for Inter Milan. It was at the peak of Serie A. Plus, the match was played in San Siro. So we are adding the Milan derby to the equation The stage was a collusion between two heated rivalries at the "home" stadium. The backdrop was there.
The Match
-- Then, during the match, the Rijkaard-Voller incident became one of the most controversial incident in the World Cup Finals since Rattin in 1966 and before Zidane in 2006.
-- Brehme scored one of the greatest goals of Italia 1990. The World Cup Finals happened to be one of the dullest in history. This game stood among one of the best.
Some of the unpublished posts from this blog have been turned into a two-volume book: The Multiverse of the Beautiful Game: National Teams of Pure Fantasy.
Volume 1 takes you back in time and asks the questions every football fan has dreamed about. What if Brazil had a more beautiful team in 1982 — would they have cruised to the title? What if the United Kingdom could send its team to the 1970 World Cup? I believe they would have been the strongest side on earth. What if Argentina had fielded both Omar Sivori and Alfredo Di Stéfano together in 1958? What if Johan Cruyff had lined up alongside Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, and Frank Rijkaard? What if Eusébio had played for Brazil? And that's only scratching the surface — Volume 1 is packed with legendary "what ifs" that will keep you turning pages.
Volume 2 brings the fantasy closer to home. What if England had Michael Olise, Erling Haaland and others in 2026 — could they go all the way? What if Yugoslavia had gone to the World Cup in 2018? What if the United States could select more players in 2010? It would be the greatest American side ever. And what if Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi had actually played for the same national team in 2006? It could have happened — if the soccer gods had smiled on us.
Some of the unpublished posts from this blog have been turned into a two-volume book: The Multiverse of the Beautiful Game: National Teams of Pure Fantasy.
Volume 1 takes you back in time and asks the questions every football fan has dreamed about. What if Brazil had a more beautiful team in 1982 — would they have cruised to the title? What if the United Kingdom could send its team to the 1970 World Cup? I believe they would have been the strongest side on earth. What if Argentina had fielded both Omar Sivori and Alfredo Di Stéfano together in 1958? What if Johan Cruyff had lined up alongside Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, and Frank Rijkaard? What if Eusébio had played for Brazil? And that's only scratching the surface — Volume 1 is packed with legendary "what ifs" that will keep you turning pages.
Volume 2 brings the fantasy closer to home. What if England had Michael Olise, Erling Haaland and others in 2026 — could they go all the way? What if Yugoslavia had gone to the World Cup in 2018? What if the United States could select more players in 2010? It would be the greatest American side ever. And what if Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi had actually played for the same national team in 2006? It could have happened — if the soccer gods had smiled on us.
Great match! The 1990 WC may have had some dus games but the penalty shoot outs made it dramatic n boy, what a setting! The San Siro still looks awesome today n the good thing about that time was each country had it's own style. More so than today in the era of globalization! I remember the skillful Italians, the powerful Germans n Czech's, the flair of Cameroon n Spain, the grit of the Irish, Argentina with Caniggia n possibly the greatest penalty saving keeper in WC history n of course England with Gazza, Lineker n Platt who had their best ever tournament since 1966. There was some truly remarkable no 10's in this tournament as well such as R.Baggio, Scifo, Michel, Hagi, Gullit, Matthaus, Stojkovic, Francescoli n Gazza. Italy n Germany were the most impressive! What's interesting is Germany won it on Italian soil n then Italy made amends by winning the WC in Germany in 2006!
ReplyDeletePosted By Greg Thackray
ReplyDeleteStoichkov did not play in the 1990 world cup
ReplyDelete