ICONS: A walk into the light - Franz Beckbenbauer at the 1990 World Cup

The World Cup took place in the middle of a year in which everything seemed possible for Germany and Germans. Beckenbauer and his players, however, ensured a summer of collective bliss.

The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, and the two German states were in the process of growing together, or at least what the West German Federal Republic of Germany understood to be growing together. On 3 October, 1990, a few months after the triumph in Rome, the GDR joined the Federal Republic, ending the experiment of real existing socialism on German soil after 40 agonising years of separation.

Although the East German players were not yet in Italy, the title was celebrated equally in both German states. The 1990 World Cup is perceived as the first pan-German experience, the first joint triumph of a nation that had been divided for so long.

Franz Anton Beckenbauer, 44 years old on that night in Rome, achieved in his last game as coach of the German team what only the Brazilian Mario Zagallo had previously managed: Becoming world champion as a player and a manager. Beckenbauer, perhaps the most unlikely of all Germans - casual, light, elegant, sensitive, drawn to beautiful things - was the conductor of this triumph.

Beckenbauer was blessed with an aura that made his surroundings seem to stand still for a moment when he entered a room. World champion as a player, world champion as a coach, and later the architect of the German summer fairy tale of 2006. Everything seemed to come easily to him, until much later, when nothing would be easy anymore.

When corruption allegations arose against the 2006 World Cup bid he led, and when one of his sons died of cancer, it broke his heart. Beckenbauer withdrew from public life before suffering a stroke, Parkinson's disease, and the onset of dementia. On 7 January, 2024, he died prematurely at the age of 78.

But in 1990, this sad end for the illustrious figure who ultimately became human again is still so far away. “Go out there, have fun and play football,” he told his players in the dressing room before the final. It was the simplest of speeches, one that says a lot about Beckenbauer as a person, but does not reveal that he is anything but a scatterbrain as a coach; throughout the tournament, he meticulously prepared his team for every opponent, and in no game do his players appear surprised; they are always dominant and in control.

At the same time, however, every single player, including the current and future world stars such as Lothar Matthaus, Jurgen Klinsmann, Andreas Brehme, Jurgen Kohler, Thomas Hassler and Rudi Voller, knew what he could and could not do. Beckenbauer was merciless in this respect. Of course, he knew that not even his captain Matthsus, who played a fantastic tournament in Italy, was blessed with the same talent that he had. Matthaus also fell short of Diego Maradona, even though the Argentine would later describe him as his toughest opponent and favourite rival.

But Beckenbauer's importance to world football was even greater. Perhaps no one else has ever been able to do as much with the ball as Maradona, but he never invented a new position. Unlike Beckenbauer, who turned the defensive and clearing libero into a withdrawn playmaker. A quarterback of the beautiful game who, until the introduction of the back four and zonal marking, organised the game and played a role in attack.

Beckenbauer's specialities as a player were long, precise diagonal passes with the outside of his foot as well as irresistible dribbling out of defence with his back straight, eyes always on the pitch. Long before the GOAT debate was even invented, world football was led by Beckenbauer with his elegance, by the force of nature Pele with his goals, and the genius Johan Cruyff as the defining figure of Dutch Total Football. Kaiser Franz, O Rei Pele and Koning Johan: three kings who ruled football.

As a coach, Beckenbauer has no problem reminding players of their mortality. After Germany's narrow 1-0 victory over Czechoslovakia in the 1990 quarter-finals, Matthaus and his team-mates were given the lecture of their lives in the dressing room.

"Franz was beside himself. He swore that we were the biggest idiots and kicked an ice bucket across the dressing room. We had no idea what was going on,” Brehme later described Beckenbauer's outburst. Matthaus agreed that he had never been so insulted before: “But Franz did it deliberately. He was always forward-thinking and wanted to send a message.”

A few days later, the semi-final against England turned out to be the best match of the entire tournament, with two teams in great form giving their all for 120 minutes. In the end, Germany won on penalties and Gary Lineker would go on to utter his legendary phrase: “Football is a simple game: Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.”

In the exuberance of the final victory, Beckenbauer would say something similar a few days later, but without Lineker's subtle irony. In doing so, he would place an almost unbearable burden on his former assistant coach and successor, Berti Vogts.

"We are now number one in the world, we have been number one in Europe for a long time. Now the players from East Germany are joining us. I believe that the German team will be unbeatable for years to come. I feel sorry for the rest of the world," were Beckenbauer's parting words.

Things turned out differently. Under Vogts, a rather ordinary German who never made it beyond Monchengladbach, in contrast to the elegant cosmopolitan Beckenbauer, Germany would go on to be eliminated in the quarter-finals in 1994 in the United States and in 1998 in France; the 1996 European Championship victory in England with Oliver Bierhoff's Golden Goal would be the only other title in this decade for a unified German team, where at least Matthias Sammer, a former GDR citizen from Dresden, was named the Player of the Tournament.

But on that night in 1996, Beckenbauer's stroll in Rome was just as far away as his first game as team manager of the national team had been from his triumphant moment. In 1984, after Germany had been eliminated in the group stage of a tournament for the first time under Jupp Derwall at the European Championship, Beckenbauer was made manager, thanks in part to a campaign by his friends at the BILD newspaper.

“Franz: I'm ready,” Germany's biggest newspaper had headlined on the day of Derwall's dismissal. Beckenbauer had merely signalled that he could imagine taking on a role as an advisor, but the story was out there. And when the German Football Association (DFB) actually asked him if he wanted to take over from Derwall and save German football, he could not or would not back down.

Overnight, the 39-year-old columnist and retired footballer, who had played his last game for New York Cosmos in September 1983, became team manager Beckenbauer. 'Manager' and not national coach, because Beckenbauer never obtained a coaching licence. One of his assistants with a coaching licence always officially acted as national coach. But Beckenbauer was the boss, and even if he didn't reinvent football as a coach, he was as meticulous as he was successful. He reached the 1986 World Cup final, the 1988 European Championship semi-final, won the global title in Rome and, later, the league title and European Cup twice as interim coach of Bayern Munich.

The secrets to Germany's success at the 1990 World Cup were – in addition to excellent preparation for their opponents – team spirit and a familiarity with their surroundings. Five players in the squad plied their trade in Serie A, then by far the best league in the world. In addition to Thomas Berthold and Voller, who played for Roma, Matthaus, Brehme and Klinsmann formed the German contingent at Inter.

Inter had won the Scudetto the previous year, and Matthaus was the best player in Serie A alongside Napoli's Maradona. While Maradona and Argentina were allowed to play three of their seven matches in Naples during the World Cup – and, cheered on by the Neapolitan fans, knocked Italy out of the tournament – the Germany played five matches at San Siro. The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, this cathedral of football, thus became Germany's home stadium in every respect.

The Germans also moved into nearby accommodation at a castle complex on Lake Como. Beckenbauer had learned from the negative experiences of 1986, when the players had become cabin feverish during their preparations for the World Cup at the Malente sports school, and opened the accommodation to their families. At least during the day, the players' wives were also allowed to visit the training camp and use the pool. One or two beers or a glass of wine in the evening were permitted, and smokers weren't reprimanded either. If a player felt the urgent need to go out, Matthaus' small Peugeot convertible was parked outside the door with the key in the ignition.

Beckenbauer let the reins slip – just not when it came to the football.

Germany's tournament begand with a 4-1 win over Yugoslavia off the back of two goals from Matthaus, as his dynamic solo run with a powerful finish to make it 3-1 became one of the most iconic goals of the tournament. After a 5-1 win against the overwhelmed United Arab Emirates and a respectable 1-1 draw against Colombia, arch-rivals the Netherlands lay waiting in the last 16.

Voller was sent off for being spat on by Frank Rijkaard in one of the biggest refereeing misjudgements in World Cup history, but Klinsmann played the game of his life as Germany won 2-1.

Then came the ice bucket rant game against Czechoslovakia, the penalty shootout against England and finally the grand final, against Argentina again, as in 1986, only this time the Germans were the favourites. The match, though, was a disappointment.

Argentina were missing four players due to suspension, including striker Claudio Caniggia, who brought Italy to tears in the semi-final with his equaliser. Throughout the tournament, Argentina showed little interest in scoring goals, focusing instead on tough defence and nasty fouls, and the final subsequently turned into a series of kicks and tackles. The South Americans ended the game with nine men and failed to create a single real scoring opportunity during the 90 minutes.

The best player on the pitch was Guido Buchwald of Stuttgart, a resolute defensive player with a blond mullet who played the game of his life in the final as Maradona's marker.

“He was in good spirits at the beginning,” Buchwald recalled of his private duel with the best footballer on the planet, “but then he became more and more irritable.” The unsung German tells of how Maradona became “smaller and smaller” as the game progressed, while Argentina's talisman is said to have asked 'You again?' while sitting frustrated on the turf after Buchwald had won yet another tackle.

From then on, football fans in Germany dubbed Buchwald 'Diego'. However, the new Diego and his team-mates don't come up with much up-front that evening either. Consequently, for the first time in history, a World Cup final was decided by a penalty kick. And in a game dominated by fouls by Argentina, a non-foul led to the decisive spot-kick, as Voller fell into Roberto Sensini's outstretched leg in the penalty area – a decision that would not stand up to VAR, as Voller himself admits today.

There is a special story surrounding Brehme's decisive penalty, which was celebrated in Germany and Italy alike – the Stadio Olimpico was a sea of black, red, gold and green, white, red flags. Brehme only stepped up to take the spot-kick because Matthaus wasn't feeling entirely confident.

The sole of the captain's boot had broken in the first half. "The stud was hanging off the bottom of my foot, like a milk tooth still hanging on by its last fibres,” Matthaus later recalled.

Matthaus, who had always been under contract with Puma, as his father was the caretaker at the equipment supplier's headquarters in Herzogenaurach, had been wearing adidas Copa Mundials for the national team since 1982. At that time, players, at least in the German national team, were not allowed to play in the boots of their choice or those of their sponsors, thus adidas was forced upon them.

In a poetic twist, back in 1988, those same exact boots had been worn by Maradona! The Argentine had forgotten his boots for Michel Platini's farewell match, and Matthaus lent him his spare pair, which turned out to be those very same Copa Mundials that broke in the final in Rome. Maradona had a special way of tying his boots in that he always left one eyelet out, and Matthaus left the laces that way, got used to it and therefore played in the most important final of his life against Maradona in boots that had been tied by the Argentine icon.

After breaking his sole, Matthaus changed his boots at half-time, but his spares were half a size too big. He thus didn't feel quite confident in the slightly too big and not worn-in boots, so he decided not to take the penalty, allowing Brehme to step up.

Brehme fired the ball so accurately into the bottom left corner that even penalty expert Sergio Goycochea in the Argentina goal had no chance. Brehme turned away, waving both hands up and down in front of his chest, jumping awkwardly twice before his team-mates buried him under them. A wonderfully genuine, spontaneous and certainly not rehearsed celebration, which in the weeks that followed was imitated again and again on the football pitch. Germany were world champions.

The Germany players hugged one another and jumped around while Maradona cried. Beckenbauer gave an interview while his players got ready for the trophy ceremony. The stadium booed as the Argentine players received their medals. Women in flowing white dresses and monstrous marble sculptures on their heads – Romulus and Remus with the Capitoline wolf, the Colosseum, etc. – took to the podium, creating some of the craziest imagery in World Cup history. And finally, gold medals for the Germany players and coaches, along with the World Cup trophy.

“Surely the most kissed object here in the stadium,” Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Germany's captain from the 1986 World Cup, claimed on commentary, to which his colleague Gerd Rubenbauer replied, "Yes, of course, they don't dare touch the ladies yet!"

A dazzling light show accompanied the players as they ran through the stadium with the trophy. 'Victory!' chanted the German fans, the Stadio Olimpico a sea of German and Italian flags. Brehme kissed the trophy, while Beckenbauer walked into the light.