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Andreas “Andy” Brehme was not supposed to be the hero of the 1990 World Cup final.
Striker Rudi Voller intended to take a penalty, but as he was a man brought down inside the penalty area, he did not want it when the time came. At least that’s how he looked in the eyes of referee Edgardo Codesar. German soccer superstition held that a player who committed a foul should never receive a penalty. The second, Lothar Matthäus, also refused. The team captain changed his boots at halftime, but felt unwell.
For this reason, Inter Milan wing-back Brehme, 29, was brought on in the 85th minute of a goalless match against Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Goicochea at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. “If you score, we can become world champions,” Voller told his teammates as the penalty kick was delayed by seven minutes due to angry protests from Diego Maradona’s men. Then there’s no pressure.
But Brehme had more important things to think about. Which foot should I use? The Hamburg-born defender was the most ambidextrous player of his generation and was happy to kick the ball with either foot. Four years earlier, in the 1986 World Cup final, which Germany lost to the same opponent, Brehme had scored a penalty shoot-out with his left in the quarter-final against hosts Mexico.
That night in Rome, he went on the other foot. Goicochea had saved four penalties in the previous two games (against Yugoslavia and Italy), but this time he had no chance. The ball bounced low and was sucked into the corner. Shortly after, Germany won the World Cup for the third time, but the first time as a reunified nation.
“My left is more difficult and my right is more accurate,” Brehme later told German news magazine Der Spiegel. During training with Inter, he regularly challenged Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga to shootouts, kicking him five times with each foot.
Brehme also found the back of the net in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands and in the semi-finals against England, but on that occasion Peter Shilton’s left-footed free-kick was misjudged and could not be stopped.
The 5-year-old often juggles balls during the half-time break of matches between HSV Balmbek and Uhlenhorst, the Hamburg-based amateur team that his father Bernd plays for. After completing his training as a mechanic, Brehme joined second-division side Saarbrücken, but he played there for only one season before signing with top-flight giants Kaiserslautern in 1981.
Five years later, Bayern Munich acquired him for 2 million Deutsche Marks (1 million euros), the second-highest transfer fee in the Bundesliga until then. He was a cultured player with a great work ethic, defensive seriousness, smart running and a knack for scoring important goals. Brehme won with Bayern in 1987 and, like many German and other top international players at the time, followed up on the Serie A call-up.
At Inter he joined up with former Bayern teammate Matthaus.National team striker Jurgen Klinsmann completes the trinity tedesi (German) One year later.
The signing of the trio was Inter’s successful attempt at city rivals AC Milan, who fielded three Dutch players in Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit. And it worked. Incredibly versatile, Brehme won the Scudetto in 1989, ahead of Maradona, when he was named Italy’s Player of the Year, and won the UEFA Cup in 1991 under Giovanni Trapattoni.
He returned to Kaiserslautern in 1993, but was relegated three years later. After the final whistle ended in a 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen, which sent Kaiserslautern down to the second division, Brehme held on in the arms of Vohrer (then Leverkusen’s striker) live on a television studio. I sobbed.
It was an emotional moment in German football history and cemented Brehme’s popularity as a truly caring player.
He decided to postpone his retirement in order to rebuild the team next season. Brehme’s active career ends like a fairy tale. Kaiserslautern became the first promoted team in Bundesliga history to win the league title in 1998.
He then coached at Kaiserslautern and was Trapattoni’s assistant at Stuttgart, but without much success. Still, Brehme’s footballing achievements were never in doubt, as he was the third man to score a World Cup-winning goal for Germany and one of Inter’s most influential players.
Former teammates were deeply saddened by his death at the age of 63 from cardiac arrest on Monday night. Guido Buchwald, another 1990 World Cup winner, told SID news agency: “I’m shocked and speechless.” “Andy was always positive and radiated life. He was a great human being and a great friend.”
Inter will wear a black armband for Tuesday night’s Champions League home match against Atletico Madrid. “Ciao, Andy. Forever a legend.”
Germany shares that sentiment.
(Top photo: Staff/AFP via Getty Images)
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