The History of The Euro's - Part 2

This episode covers Euro 72, 76 and 80 in our special series covering the history of the European Championships.

We'll tell you all about 1972's German greats, 1976 and the birth of the Panenka and beginnings of English hooliganism in 1980.

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Music written by Matt & Gilbert Spencer-Smith

Transcript

Dan: Welcome back to the hand of pod euros special two parts, part two, part two. So, uh, we left you having just talked about Euro 68 and I am joined by Matt once again. Hello. Hello. Hello, Matt. And we will be talking today about euros 72. 76 and Euro 80.

To kick off, we run you through Euro 72. Now, this was a bit of an expansion on the previous additions with 32 teams entering the qualifying round, having been divided into eight groups of four teams each and each group winner went through to the quarterfinals and it kind of feels that that kind of set up feels like the first time we were looking at a more modern day format.

Yeah. Uh, of the competition and the, the quarterfinals were played over two legs home and [00:01:00] away. And one of the most notable games of the quarterfinals was England v West Germany and the first leg being at, uh, played at Wembley and the Germans dismantled the English. And what was said to be the beginning of the end for Alf Ramsey.

So after, uh, after winning the, the world cup in 66 and then a good performance in, in 97, but not in 1970, but then knocked out, knocked out by Brazil, they were kind of playing as, as home favorites having been kind of known never to really lose at Wembley. But yeah, Germany turned up and kind of showed them.

Modern, more modern football was, was looking like with, with a real kind of attacking and flair and more, more flair and skill than, than anyone has seen before. And it was, it was quite a big game. It was tele, televised in England, which is quite a rarity at the time. But yeah, Germany won 3 1 at Wembley.[00:02:00]

Their kind of superstar at that time was Günter Netzer. He was, you'd probably compare him to a George Best style player in, in his personality, as well as his, his style of play. But he was, he was kind of Germany's answer to, to Johann Cruyff at the time. Uh, one of the greatest midfielders of the time and probably of all time.

But Germany's team was kind of full of flair and full of footballers that were, were like I say, advancing the game into much more attacking tactics. Um, And Alf Ramsey was a bit kind of stuck in his ways, uh, refused to kind of change anything. England had Rodney Marsh on the bench, who was their kind of most exciting player, who all the fans wanted to see.

You probably compared him to, to Gunter Netzer. Um, but Ramsey, uh, left him on the bench and brought him on towards the end of the match, but it was kind of too, too little, too late. And they, uh, went to Berlin for the second leg. Uh, having almost conceded defeat, [00:03:00] really, and, uh, and drew nil nil. So did not progress to the, to the finals that time.

And, uh, like all previous tournaments so far, this was a four team finals and the hosts were chosen from the four teams that qualify for it with, um, Belgium being chosen. As hosts having beaten, uh, Italy in the quarterfinals. Um, it was said it would have most likely been England if they had got through.

It would have been, been played in England, but wasn't to be. Um, the other teams qualifying were the ever strong Hungarian team. And of course, Euro specialists, the Soviet Union, unbelievable, always there, always there, 

Matt: but hardly any record in the surrounding World Cups. 

Dan: Yeah, I know. Amazing, isn't it? It's mad, isn't it?

You don't, don't hear them talked about. I mean, I don't really, without kind of going through all the World Cups, but I kind of don't really recall them being talked about World Cups until kind of maybe [00:04:00] 94. They, I remember them being at the World Cup, USSR. 

Matt: In 70, they. Got knocked out in the quarterfinals after extra time by Uruguay.

So they got out of the group stage, but 

Dan: yeah, 

Matt: straight out. 

Dan: Yeah. I mean, the first time, first, first time I remember anyone talking about a kind of notable Russian team was that, that 94 World Cup. But yeah, but yeah, Euros. Did you say 

Matt: where, where did, did you say Italy were in the quarterfinals or where Italy is 

Dan: Italy's Italy's lost to Belgium in the quarters.

Obviously they were, they were beaten finalists in the, in the previous World Cup. to Brazil, but kind of soundly beaten by Brazil in that, in that World Cup, World Cup final. I think England were probably second favorites to, to Brazil, if not favorites of the, of that tournament. So I think the, the Brazilians probably saw the England game as the final and pretty much breeze through the rest of the tournament.

So England got knocked out, 

Matt: uh, of the 1970 World Cup by West Germany. [00:05:00] And then the 1972 Euro qualifiers by West Germany. 

Dan: No, they were knocked out of the 1970 World Cup by Brazil. 

Matt: There they went. 

Dan: And 70 was the, I thought it was the match where That was a group stage. That was a group stage. That was a group stage.

Ah, that famous picture of Bobby Moore and Pele changing shirts. That 

Matt: was the group stage match. Ah, 

Dan: yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think it knocked out. Yeah. So, so I mean, I guess that, that quarter final against Germany is almost like a revenge match scene for England. They were going to get revenge on the Germans.

Extra time as well. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, Belgium took on West Germany in the first of the semis, both teams playing in their first finals with the Germans having not. Entered the first two tournaments and then losing in the quarterfinals of the previous edition. But like I said, this kind of feels like the first proper Euros with, with all the big countries actually [00:06:00] entering and, and, and the full 32 team qualifying system, but the Germans beat.

Beat Belgium with two Gerd Müller goals, the late consolation for Belgium to make it 2 1, but they, they were much the stronger team against Belgium in that semi final. And the other semis, Soviet Union beat Hungary by one goal to nil. And going into the final, Germany completely rolled over the Soviets, three nil in the final at the Heisel Stadium in Brussels.

Another two goals from Müller, making him top goal scorer for the tournament. But many people said this was Germany's greatest ever side. It was a good team. Yeah, great team, great team, full of stars, really. And they had, obviously, Müller and talked about Günter Netzer, but they had Players such as, uh, obviously Beckenbauer, Paul Brittner, Sepp Maier in goal.

And Heynckes was actually fourth, he's fourth highest ever [00:07:00] record goal scorer in the Bundesliga. So yeah, incredible team. Seem to be eclipsed by a hurricane. Yeah, I don't know about that. It's got, we've got a few to go. Yeah. They were talked about as like total football at that time, their, their answer, like before the, before the best Dutch team in.

The following World Cup, but again, lost to lost to this German team, but this 72 World Cup, they were playing such more expansive football than they did two years later in the World Cup, even though they won it, that it said that this team was just just so good and so far ahead of everyone else. And they kind of pretty much breeze through the entire tournament with with no one really.

getting, getting any close anywhere near them at that time. But yeah, so, so yeah, Germany, West Germany with their first trip to the finals and their first win and which, which was quite dominant going on to win the World Cup. Two years later, followed [00:08:00] by Euro 76. 

Matt: Were Germany the first European team to win back to back Euro World Cup or in any particular order?

I think they were, yeah, well, yes, they must have been because the Euro's only started in 60. 

Dan: Started in 60, so yeah, obviously England 66 hadn't won it, 70, Brazil won the World Cup, so yeah, it would be. First Euro World Cup holders. Where's Germany? No. There's been a few since. Yes. 

Matt: Uh huh. We'll get to them. 

Dan: We will.

We will. 

Matt: So we get to 1976 where it, it followed an identical format. They'd found their format, 32 team qualification stage in groups of four, winners of the, each group advanced to a quarterfinals, it gets played in over two legs, home and away, To then move to the semi finals before which the host nation are picked out of the four [00:09:00] semi finalists.

And so they've, they're obviously happy with the, the format. Now, I still find it amazing that the tournament itself was just four matches. 

Dan: Yeah, I know. Like the, when you think about 

Matt: the finals, but then I guess there was that whole home and away quarter final thing is quite exciting. I like the, I like the thought of, Like actually having a European Cup, a European Cup quarterfinal played home and away.

Dan: I guess it has a more kind of club European Cup feel to it, doesn't it? 

Matt: Yeah. And at this stage, the European wasn't being played in two legs. 

Dan: Yeah. Like, can you imagine how big that game at Wembley was against, against Germany? 

Matt: Yeah. It's insane 

Dan: if that happened, that happened now. I mean, it's a bit like There's 

Matt: probably never been a bigger England v Germany game at Wembley.

Yeah. before or since.

Never. So [00:10:00] the, the, the winners that made up the quarterfinals. So the first quarterfinal was between Yugoslavia and Wales, which Yugoslavia won three, one, an aggregate Czechoslovakia and Soviet Union, who we've just been talking about as the perennial European cup. Finals appearances where they lost to Czechoslovakia 4 2 on aggregate, meaning that it was, this was the first European cup finals to not feature the Soviet Union, Spain played West Germany first leg.

Drew won all and then the second leg West Germany won 2 0. So they got, making them reach their second consecutive finals. And then, as you mentioned around this time, the, the, the mighty Netherlands team of the seventies that had done so well in the 74 World Cup, they won 7 1 on aggregate against Belgium, obviously previous semi finalists to make it to the semi finals.

Only one [00:11:00] team had. Was, was a repeat, had a repeat appearance from the year before. And in fact, I don't, Yugoslavia hadn't appeared before in the, in the previous tournaments, had they? And so I think three of the four finalists were, were new to the semifinals. And so the, the actual finals took place in Yugoslavia.

So then, so 

Dan: we get to the first thing, no, no, no unrest in Yugoslavia in the, in, in, in that era. 

Matt: Yeah, there was, there was a bit of unrest. There was, it's all very political. I mean, actually both fixtures were very much East Europe versus West Europe. So you had in the first fixture, you had Czechoslovakia versus Netherlands.

And in the second fixture was Yugoslavia versus Versus Germany says West Germany. 

Music: So 

Matt: it was very much an East V West, 

Music: um, 

Matt: and actually I said, I did. So, but the Czechoslovakia team was, was built up of sort of half Czechs and half, half Slovaks. But [00:12:00] interestingly, you know, this sort of came together to, for the sports, which is often the case, isn't it?

Dan: Yeah. 

Matt: So the first semi final was between, um, Netherlands and Czechoslovakia and it took place during a torrential rainstorm. So it wasn't the prettiest match in the world, uh, but Czechoslovakia scored an early goal through Andrus on the 60 minute mark, went down to 10 men, uh, as 

Dan: a punter. And this is the, this is the Dutch team that.

I just lost the World Cup final. That's correct. Yeah. This is the 

Matt: Dutch team. So still had Cruyff still in the team. Apparently there was uncertainty about whether he would play in the, in this, these finals. He was there. And then the, the, the goal scorer from Czechoslovakia then scored an own goal to make it one all.

And then the Netherlands had a player sent off. So at 90 minutes. It was one all [00:13:00] and both players were, both teams were down to 10 men, 

Dan: down to 10. So, 

Matt: so the semifinal goes into extra time. And actually one of the things that's notable about the 1976. finals is that every game went to extra time. 

Music: It 

Matt: might not be the most noticeable thing from the 

Music: 76.

Matt: Um, but it was the first time that every match went to extra time. And then into extra time, the Czechoslovakia scored two goals, either side of a van Hannigan sending off, meaning that Czechoslovakia went through to the, to the final knocking out the mighty Dutch. Cruyff himself was actually yellow carded late on, meaning that he would have missed the final.

had Holland qualified for the final. 

Dan: That would have been, that would have been some story as well if that had 

Matt: happened. Yeah, yeah. So he did miss the third and fourth place playoff. But by then, it had all come out that there was a lot of unrest in the, in the Dutch camp. So the, the, the coach resigned after the game, but there [00:14:00] was word that he'd maybe actually resigned before the game.

Um, he was very unpopular with the players and there was a lot, it seems like the players had,

I've read that allegedly, Cruyff had said. Before the game that he would, he wouldn't travel to the following world cup with the rest of the squad. He would only travel with, he'd travel on his own with his family. And as a team, they'd kind of assumed they would win this game. And they were already looking forward to, to a big revenge match against Germany in the final.

Yeah, 

Dan: he didn't, he didn't actually travel to the following world cup at all. 

Matt: No. So that was the beginning of the kind of fallout of, of, of the Cruyff era. Yeah. 

Music: Yeah. 

Matt: Um, so the, yeah, things sort of fell apart for them and Czechoslovakia won through. And the Netherlands were kind of known as the favorites going into the semifinals, but lots of press said that [00:15:00] they were all, all four teams were, were, there wasn't really a weak team amongst the four.

So it wasn't well. You'd look back historically and think that, well, Holland would have been at, you know, outright favorites. They weren't, you know, it wasn't a massive, you know, it was a shock result, but Czechoslovakia were a, were a good team at the time. So we go to, to the home semi final now where.

Yugoslavia are taking on the reigning world champions in Belgrade to 50, 000 partisan crowd and, and things were going very well. Two first half goals took Yugoslavia two nil up at halftime. Love to 

Dan: be watching that game live. That'd have been exciting stuff. 

Matt: Yes. Yeah. And then the, in the second half, the German manager made some big changes, brought on Fleur and Dieter Müller, the other Müller.

Dan: The other Müller. 

Matt: The other, yeah, he sort of became known [00:16:00] as the other Müller. 

Dan: The other Müller. 

Matt: They came off the bench and they both scored in the second half to, to draw the match level. So off we go into the, into a second extra time. And the other Müller scores another two goals, completes a hat, completes a hat trick and knocks out Yugoslavia on their old turf.

Dan: Yeah, I'm going to have to look into Muller's because I'm sure there's going to be some kind of Stat that a Muller has scored in like every euros since 1972 I'm gonna check that it could easily it's 

Matt: it's a common. It's a common German name It's pronounced Miller as well. 

Dan: Okay 

Matt: Um And if a Muller hadn't scored someone, it's eat a Muller rice.

So we get to our final. We've got Czechoslovakia versus the world champions, [00:17:00] Germany and the reigning European champions. So looking to become 

Dan: three in a row, 

Matt: looking to become the first country to win back to back European titles, but also to win a third major tournament. on the bounce. Um, so the final was also held in Belgrade, very close.

I think there's only two, three days, I think, between the fixtures. So both semifinals having gone to extra time, we got, we got, and substitutions not being what they are nowadays, we've got some, some tired, tired legs out there. So Czechoslovakia take a two, one lead into halftime. And, and once, so once again, West Germany can concede two goals in the first half.

Once again, they're behind at halftime. They come out fighting in the second half. It's all West Germany through the whole of the second half, pressurizing, pressurizing. But Czechoslovakia are holding tight, holding tight [00:18:00] until one minute from time, Germany, West Germany score an equalizer to take the final two extra time.

Extra time. By this point, they. Basically, all the players are absolutely knackered and the extra time itself sort of turns into a bit of a cagey affair with both teams just trying not to lose, really. It had only been decided, uh, just before the game that it wouldn't go to a replay and that penalties would be.

So I think both teams are only informed on the. on the day, or the day before, that penalties would be what happened if it was still a draw after extra time. And that's what happened. To a penalty shootout we go. A first tour, first major international tournament to be decided by a penalty shootout. And penalty shootouts themselves not being a very common event at this, at this age.

The, so the [00:19:00] first seven penalties all get scored until Uli Pönis blazes over the bar in, uh, Chris Waddle style for West Germany and up steps The dead bull specialist for Czechoslovakia, Antonin Penenka. And you recognize that name. So penalties not being penalties, shootouts, not being common up. He steps piles in keeper dives to his, to his left.

And Panenka chips it into the center nonchalantly to win, actually win the European Cup with the last kick of the game for Czechoslovakia. I mean, what's an amazing decision and the guts to pull that off. I think that, I think, and then obviously to have, have a particular thing [00:20:00] named after him.

Dan: Forevermore. Yeah. Yeah. Incredible. I mean, I mean, yeah, like you said, there's no, it was the first ever penalty shootout. So it's not like, it's not like he's, he's watched Penalty Shootout and thought, maybe I could do this. 

Music: Yeah. 

Dan: It's the first ever penalty shootout, he's decided to do that. Incredible. But what 

Matt: he'd, he'd, it's not the first time he'd done it.

Apparently he'd sort of missed it, missed a few penalties. It's quite a flarey, dead ball kind of guy. And he'd missed a few penalties in, in the league. And so he'd. Him and the keeper were just like penalty practicing all the time because he was trying to find an edge and then he started started his, this started the Penenka penalty and, um, and he, and he, he was fooling his own keeper, even like multiple times in practice.

So he was practicing it, [00:21:00] you know, to show, you know, with the run up, not giving away what he's going to do. So he'd honed it in practice. He'd, he'd, he'd used it eight or nine times in professional games in normal time. 

Dan: I get people, people look off and look at it as kind of. arrogant and showing off, but I guess he's, he's invented a clever way to take a penalty.

Yes. He's just sort of an effective way. Yeah. He's 

Matt: just kind of thought, but he found a loophole. 

Dan: Yeah. Really hasn't he? A cheat code. Basically at the time. 

Matt: And, but he'd used it multiple times in the Czechoslovakian league. And so he, you know, it was, it was tried and tested for him, but obviously, uh, you know, what teams are likely to have seen.

him do it in Czechoslovakia, what footage would there have been [00:22:00] of him doing it at the time? So it's very unlikely West Germany would have known that it was a thing that he'd ever done before. 

Dan: Well, you guess these days that the goalkeeper would have do so much research into the different penalty takers, the goalkeeper would have probably just stood there and waited for him to do it.

Matt: But, but even then, like he, it's, you know, you don't, you can't see. You don't know he's definitely, it's not like he only took Penenka penalties once he discovered it, like he'd, he'd really, he'd really worked on his, his craft to shield it and to vary it. So the keepers, but of course, so this, the West German keeper had not seen him do it before, but he'd decided, he decided, well, and he said he decided in advance, that's what he was going to because he'd thought that was, that gave him the greatest chance in this particular circumstance to score a [00:23:00] penalty.

Dan: But then you think about What he's saying, what he's saying is it's the least likely time anyone would expect him to do it. Like the goalkeeper would expect him to do it. Yeah, but then In that situation. 

Matt: There's so much context around it become having the impact that it did. Cause if Honus hadn't missed the penalty before him, that wouldn't have been the match winning penalty.

If the, if the Germany hadn't scored the equalizer a minute before the end of the match and taken it to extra time, we'd never have seen that. 

Dan: It would have never happened. It wouldn't have happened. The public's just still been taking them in the Czech league and no one have ever seen them. What 

Matt: if he'd have, he would have been the penalty taker in.

Normal time. What if, what if they'd got a penalty in [00:24:00] normal time, he'd have done a Penenka, like he said he would have done a Penenka. So would he have done a Penenka penalty again in a shooter, in the shooter? 

Dan: Yeah. Yeah. But he could cut, he could 

Matt: cover it. So his run up wouldn't have given it away. It's fascinating.

I find it. 

Dan: Yeah. It's amazing really. 

Matt: The fact that he, he knew he was going to do it. Before the match, like it was his thing, he knew it was a good idea to then for it to then transpire to be the deciding kick of the game of the tournament is, it's amazing. Isn't it? 

Dan: Yeah. 

Matt: Um, but you know, great. Love it. Well, well done.

But now, but now keepers, you know, it's not a guaranteed thing, is it? 

Dan: No, no. Well, I guess there's been all sorts. [00:25:00] Of other things with penalties, like, uh, the one with Cruyff, where they passed it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And remember that was copied by the old, uh, Perez Henry did it. Yeah. Where Perez passed it to Henri.

And then there was, there's things that then had rule changes put in, like the, um, the fake shot. Yeah, you can do the stuttering. Well, that's that's now the thing because you're not allowed to stop. It's the stuttering run. Ah, they do. And he had he's the Italian played for Arsenal. He did like jump Georgie.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Does the whole jump thing. I was so happy when he missed the World Cup in the last year is against us. Yeah. So it's all like, I was so desperate for him not to score. I bet. I'm glad they brought 

Matt: in the keeping the goalkeepers on the line rule. I'm glad they got more stricter on that. 

Dan: Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, definitely. Yeah. Cause it was getting ridiculous [00:26:00] when they weren't strict how far forward they were jumping. Yeah. I'll tell you one penalty that's not, I've not seen replicates. Is that one by Gaza when he does the old, what's it called? Oh, that's, that's got its own name, but I've forgotten it.

Uh, Rabona. 

Matt: Oh yeah. 

Dan: When he does, when he does a Rabona penalty, I 

Matt: mean, 

Dan: straight in the bottom corner. That's so hard. I've never seen anything like that. That's got to be 

Music: so hard. 

Dan: Which, you'd think players like Zidane would have seen that and were practicing it though. Yeah. But I've never seen them do it. I mean.

They must be that hard. Pfff. Or just the balls to do it. Or the madness. Because it is so hard. The madness. Incredible. Incredible. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, Euro 76, that's probably, it's, uh, it's calling card is the Penenca penalty. What it's remembered for. 

Matt: Yeah, but it was a good tournament as a whole though.

You know, there was, I mean, every match going to extra time, it was, you know, and from [00:27:00] coming, you know, all four teams coming from such different, you know, Parts of the continent as well. It was, uh, well, it was obviously successful because Ended up in the tournament being expanded

Dan: going on to Euro 80 the first tournament with more than four teams in the final what? Exciting so hosts this time were chosen before the tournament before we knew who was in it say it Italy were chosen as hosts and eight teams. So double the amount of teams qualified. And 

Matt: Italy had automatic qualification, right?

From being named to the hosts. 

Dan: Yeah. Yeah. So they were named hosts this time. So, so entering the tournament were Italy, Greece, who were first time, first time was Greece, England, Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, reigning champions. Was qualification. [00:28:00] Similar how the qualification work? Yes, so qualification was similar to the, to the last two with, I think, I think it was actually 31 teams for some reason rather than 32 in like a group stage.

Matt: But that's because Italy got 

Dan: Oh, automatically. Yeah. So 31. High on earth. Were there only 31 teams? I read, I was reading the quote, it said 31. What happened to the team? I thought, what? Why 

Matt: is that different? 

Dan: Yeah. So they had 

Matt: three groups of five. 

Dan: Yeah. Yeah. So. Only the 

Matt: winning team from each group qualifying.

Right? 

Dan: Yes. Yeah, making it through. So, so basically, rather than having the two legged quarterfinals, they all eight teams that qualified went straight to the finals. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so yeah, Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Belgium and West Germany. Spain get 

Matt: to the quarterfinals. I think they've been, they got to the quarterfinals of every previous one, didn't they?

Dan: Yeah, but [00:29:00] this is the first one they've got to the finals since they, since they won it. Same as Italy. Yeah. Since they won those ones in the 60s. So it's been a while since they've been, been in the finals proper. Um, but it was a strange format of the actual finals. They didn't go straight into quarters.

They had two groups stages. So four teams in each group, the winner of each group. A mini, mini 

Matt: World Cup, um, format. 

Dan: Yeah, yeah. But the winner of each group going to the, into the final. 

Matt: Right. 

Dan: Playing each other in the final. And this, this was kind of an era of tournaments trying to figure it out because the 1978 World Cup had, had two group stages.

Music: Hmm. 

Dan: With then the winners of the second group stage playing in the final with it was all the whole controversy in, in Argentina with, with the games not being played at the same time and like the call for a fixed, fixed game. Argentina played the last game knowing what they had to do. It is amazing the, 

Matt: the amount of [00:30:00] different formats, the world cup.

Has been through, 'cause it seems so set in its way, you know, for, for a long time. Yeah. That it's hard to imagine that it ever was something else. Anyway, this is not about the World Cup. 

Dan: Yeah. But I think there seemed to be a lot of experimenting going on around this time as to how best to work all these international tournaments.

But yeah, so two, two groups. I mean, it took me a few 

Matt: years to, to find the, the optimum fancy league, head to head format. . 

Dan: Yeah. Yeah. And you still, you still think about changing it each year, still get your annual review. But yeah, so it's a bit strange that you just had a group, two groups with the winners going straight to the finals.

And and the way it turned out makes it seem even strange because when it's a close group, you're basically going to a final on on like, what, what, what. Turned out to be like goal scored basically with the same goal difference. Oh wow, yeah. [00:31:00] But there's one game that I looked at in particular, uh, was England v Belgium, which was the first group game.

I played in Turin, and it was, England were, were, were very, Kind of hotly fancied for this tournament going in. 

Matt: Oh, really? 

Dan: Yeah. Well, they romped through the qualifying stages. One won all their games. Kevin Keegan was top goal scorer in qualifying. He'd won the previous two Ballon d'Ors with Hamburg, won the European cup before that with Liverpool, before he went to Hamburg and they lost that he was, he was in the Hamburg team that lost the.

Previous European cup final to Nottingham Forest. So English teams had been kind of winning European cups religiously for the last few years going into that and the kind of team was full of England greats with like Ray Wilkins, Trevor Booking, Ray Clements in goal, Phil Neal, all sorts of kind of [00:32:00] stars in the team.

Um, Belgium were decent, but they were kind of outsiders and they. It was kind of the first, like a broad tournament for England fans ever to go to in an, in an era that getting known for, uh, hooliganism, just going into the eighties, late seventies and going into the eighties. And cause obviously they won it in 66.

So it wasn't, there was no traveling and 1970 World Cup was in. Mexico. So it's kind of at that point, it's very hard to get to. And having not been in many of the Euro final, um, this was what, the second with, did they go, they didn't reach the last four in 76 finals, did they? So they'd only been to one other Euro finals.

Who, England, England. Yeah. 

Matt: Where had they been to a five with Euros finals before? I don't think. 

Dan: Yeah. They were in the 68. Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah. [00:33:00] Then the World Cup in 78 was obviously in Argentina when they, it was traveling to Argentina was a bit, a bit hard then, and they didn't qualify for the World Cup in 74.

So this was big, big thing for England fans. All of a sudden they were traveling to Italy where you could, you know, could even drive to if airfares weren't big enough. So, so there was a huge kind of, uh, descendant on Turin by all these England fans. There'd already been some trouble outside the ground in the days leading to it.

And then it was, it was kind of really badly policed and organized and by the, by the Italians and, and there wasn't even segregation in the stadium. And there was a lot of like a lot of Italian hooligans who had gone to the game as well. Because it was so you could just you could just turn up and walk in to get tickets on the gate.

It wasn't. It was so easy. But Ray Wilkins [00:34:00] scored the first goal of the game. And it was probably Ray Wilkins most famous ever goal. You, you will have probably seen it because Belgium were playing this really high line and the, they had kind of amateur linesmen in the tournament and the refereeing wasn't great.

So England were just being blown offside like every five minutes because, you know, The referee, the linesman just wasn't keeping up with the play. So they were, they were going mad about it. But then Ray Wilkins picks up the ball faced with this really high line. He flicked it over the defenders and ran onto it himself and then runs through and scores.

And so it's, it's. Quite a famous guy. And as soon as I was looking into this, I was like, Oh, I've seen that guy. I remember, obviously I wasn't alive at the time, but you were actually Matt, this is your first tournament in existence. That's very true. [00:35:00] Um, yeah. So, and then, but three minutes later, Belgium actually equalized and that's when it all kicked off in the stadium and ended up with the Italian police wading in, throwing tear gas.

into the stands and then the game kept getting stopped and it was a bit of a farce really and the Players were complaining of the effects from the tear gas in their eyes And probably yeah, I mean the match should have been called off really. It's just they never got In control of it. And then the match never really kind of got going again properly.

And it was just so stop start that it ended up being, um, being 1 1 and then England lost to Italy at 1 0 and then ended up beating Spain in the final match. They were finished on three points with Belgium. And it's the finishing on four points. So there are only one Spain, Spain 

Matt: going out to 

Dan: the quarterfinals again, but there are only one [00:36:00] point behind the group winners, which would have seen them in the final.

So if they'd have, they'd have, which was Belgium and if they'd have beaten. Belgium in that first game, they'd have been in the final of the tournament. So it was, and like I said, they were, they were hotly fancied for it as well. So it seems like a tournament that, I mean, there was, there was big uproar in, in England about the, uh, the hooliganism and they were vilified by like Maggie Thatcher.

All the England players and, and Ron Greenwood, I think the England manager kind of spoke out about it and, and were really, really vocal about how bad it was. And it was, I think it was mainly seen that these, these fans cost England a chance of winning that tournament. 

Matt: How about this though, completely unrelated, I mean, related in a, in as much as it's about the same group of the same tournament, but Italy, home nation, [00:37:00] three group matches, three One goal, nil nil with Spain at the San Siro, one nil over England in Turin, nil nil with Belgium in Rome.

Dan: One goal. The Italian defence. Yeah, no goals conceded, 

Matt: one goal. But as you say, they didn't get to the final, because Belgium Had the same goal difference, but scored three. 

Dan: Scored more goals, yeah. 

Matt: Let in two. I mean, there's not a lot of goals in that group. 

Dan: No, no. And, and they said, apparently, because of the format, the group stage format, all the games were a lot more cagey.

Because they didn't need to kind of win to go through. And it's only, um, it's only two points for a win. So, so a draw is worth a 

Matt: lot 

Dan: more, so a nil, nil, nil is a good, good result. 

Matt: Oh, I see. [00:38:00] Yeah. Cause had it been three points for a win, but then England would have still only been one point behind them because it would have been five, five and four.

Dan: Yeah. Yeah. It wouldn't have made much difference to the actual results, but just the way you approach the games, because you're either getting two points or one point for a draw. It's not. Yeah. You're not getting two points more for scoring more goals, you're just getting one point more. So you'll often be more likely to play.

Yeah. Um, but yeah, your man Penenka was in the, in the, featuring in the other group for Czechoslovakia. Playing against 

Matt: West Germany in the, uh, first group stage game. Yeah. 

Dan: Yeah, a re replay, 

Matt: a replay of the final this time though. Rumi Niger. The 57th Minute takes it. Yeah, takes it. The ger takes it The West Germans way.

Dan: Yes. Yeah, yeah. One, and then one nil to the Germans. 

Matt: And then you [00:39:00] finally have that, that replay for the, for the Dutch to play against West Germany in the European Cup finals. West Germany beat them as well.

you know, west Germany had a, had another Muller in their team, so now they've got Hanze. Moler. 

Dan: Oh. So there's definitely been a Muller there's definitely been a minute. Play. All we, we got a third. We 

Matt: got a third. We got a third consecutive Muller. 

Dan: Okay. We'll keep tab on that. . But yeah, I don't, I mean the Netherlands team coming off the back of two, losing in the previous two World Cup finals.

I don't think they were anywhere near the as good a team as they were in, uh, Argentina, in that, in the, in Argentina. Like they were, they were CRO as they were in Argentina. 

Matt: But that's mad. They, you know, they got to the final. in 78, without Cruyff, who you think of as being [00:40:00] the talismanic player of the Dutch team in the 70s.

Dan: Yeah, yeah, but it was, it was an amazing team. Without, even without Cruyff. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Dan: But it just, it just was so very short, for a very short period, they were an amazing team. Yeah. Because, like, no one was, there was no real standout, like, the Germans were good. But they were nowhere near as good as they were in 72 and the World Cup in 74.

Yeah, well, in 78 

Matt: they got knocked out in the group stage, didn't they? 

Dan: Yeah. It was a World Cup. 

Matt: Oh, they got through to the second group stage. 

Dan: Yeah. It's confusing. Second group stage. Very confusing. But they were, so the last match of, you talk about this group stage, the last match of the group, the West Germany were already qualified and were able to rest their players against Greece.

Right. So, so drew nil nil with Greece in the last match, which meant that Czechoslovakia just needed a draw [00:41:00] against Holland to, to guarantee their third place, but neither of them could win the group and get to the final anyway. To 

Matt: have been expanded into a bigger finals. Looking at, looking at. All of the non Italy games, attendances were 

Dan: poor, 

Matt: poor, 15, 000 maximum.

Dan: Yeah. It was really low. Most, most less, 

Matt: right? Yeah. So obviously it wasn't, it wasn't like a world cup. Was it? It was still, still finding its feet. 

Dan: Yeah. I mean, even the, even the final in Rome was 47, 000. So it's not, but the previous tournaments were, were better attended. Yeah. But then 

Matt: because it's just a semifinal and a final, right?

Dan: Just the four games. Yeah. And they were often played in the same day, same day. Some of these things were the same day in the same stadium. People would go to one game. So there was, [00:42:00] there was one of the third and fourth playoffs in the previous tournament. I can't remember which, but that had like one, like a record attendance because it was played on the same day as the final.

So everyone that was there for the final, just watch 7th and 4th places as well, in the same stadium. But yeah, it seems like a poor tournament. Like, we've talked about most of the tournaments we've been talking about so far has been like, Oh, they, they've been, loads of goals, great tournaments, quite excited and getting better and better.

And then all of a sudden you've got this tournament, which feels like a bit of a damp squib. And it feels like it's mainly due to the group stage format. But yeah, West Germany kind of just got through to the final. And then they were playing Belgium in the final. And they were Belgium just just weren't good enough.

Weren't really as good as West Germany and Germany won it 2 1. They seem to have become the, uh, the new Soviet Union of the Euros, the Germans. [00:43:00] Three finals on the chart. What an era. Yeah. What an era. That's meant to be. So, yeah, Soviet Union actually came bottom of their group in qualifying. Who did? In 1980.

Soviet Union came. Who did of an era. Bottom of their group for the qualifying of the, uh, Euro 80. 

Matt: Wow. Well, one more thing about. Um, Euro at 1980. 

Dan: Yeah. 

Matt: So the third and fourth place playoff was between Czechoslovakia and the host Italy. 

Music: Yeah. 

Matt: And it went to penalties and Czechoslovakia won 9 8 on penalties.

Dan: Yeah. That's it. Um. So Penenka did, did not do a Penenka. 

Matt: He did not. But isn't that interesting that the keeper didn't still, he still dived. Yeah. So had he done a Penenka. He would have, he would have scored. 

Dan: Yeah, [00:44:00] amazing. So that ends at those three tournaments. And I, I believe having, um, having a small knowledge of Euro 84, it is, we go on from talking about this poor tournament to Euro 84.

Often I hear people say it's potentially the best ever Euros to date. Some, some people's favorite Euro. So we look forward to talking about that next time. Thanks, Matt. See you 

Matt: next time. I'm off to practice my chip penalties. 

Dan: Good luck.