On June 21, 1988, one of the most historically charged matches that football has ever celebrated was played. It was at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, where today (3:00 p.m., La 1) the Dutch team debuts in this Euro Cup. There Germany and the Netherlands faced each other for a place in the final, although the social meaning could be more important.. “There was, to put it nicely, a strong rivalry between both countries. He Bild “He did everything possible to increase the tension,” said Koeman. in an interview for the KNVB this week.
It is worth remembering the context. Fourteen years ago, the Netherlands suffered the most painful defeat in its history. Cruyff vs Beckenbauer in a quote that left the moral that not by playing better you will win. Fourteen years later they met again at a great event held in Germany. They were the semifinals of the Euro Cup. And the memory of the war, despite almost forty years that had passed, was still present. The hatred of the Germans never went away. “If one of them comes to ask me for directions now, I will send them in the opposite direction,” they told Simon Kuper., journalist and author of several books on the subject, in the last years of the century in the Netherlands. Football became the representation of this hatred, which had more weight in one direction than another.
Beyond what happened in the 90 minutes, which ended with 2-1 in favor of the Orangethe important thing was what it meant. The party broke out in Hamburg, where more than ten thousand Dutch people traveled. The German striker, Frank Mill said after being eliminated that “it would have been better to have played the game in Germany”. That victory was celebrated as if it were the final itself. The players celebrated like children, running around the field shirtless and mocking their rival, with the bad winning that always characterizes the loser. Koeman, still on the pitch, joked with the stands by making the gesture of wiping his ass with Olaf Thon’s shirt.
It was more than a match, more than a semi-final. That was a matter of national pride. It is estimated that nine million people (60% of the population) took to the streets to celebrate the victory of the national team against Germany in the 1988 World Cup. “Of course it has to do with the war,” said historian Lou de Jong, who wrote the official history of the Netherlands in World War II..
“I suppose that from today there will not be so much talk about an issue that, in short, is the media that airs it the most,” said an angry Beckenbauer.captain in ’74 and coach in ’88, on the theme of revenge. He was wrong, by the way. At Italia 90 they met and Rijkaard spat at Völler twice. At Euro 1992, clashes took place between fans in the two border areas of Enschede and Kerkrade.
Koeman will always remember that day. For the victory, for what it meant, for his goal, for his gesture with Olaf Thon’s shirt. All of this will go through his mind when he enters the Volksparkstadion, where he already knows what it means to win as a player and also as a coach. A 2-4 against Germany in 2019. A result that would be good to sign today.
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