International football's greatest rivalries - Part I

We all are fond of World Cups, European Championships and major continental showpieces. Year in and year out, the fans are more accustomed to seeing intense club rivalries all across Europe and the rest of the world, yet national team rivalries on the football pitch tend to generate a far greater passion and excitement to the audience, particularly if they happen to take place on the world stage. The reason being these matches are rare and transcend the nations’ political rivalry onto the football pitch. Here are a few examples of politically charged international rivalries where the beautiful game fortunately and sometimes unfortunately is used as a means to prove the greatness of the nations involved.

EUROPE

Netherlands v Germany

One of the greatest spectacle is a Holland-Germany clash

One of the world’s most watched international fixtures, the rivalry stems from the fact that these two countries share a common border and unfortunate memories of World War II. While things have become more settled and friendlier due to the advent of the Bundesliga and so many Dutch players plying their trade in Germany, yet, any Germany and Holland international fixture, be it friendly or competitive, tends to generate as much excitement and tension as any other top international game.

The seventies and the nineties were the height of German and Dutch rivalry. While the Oranje boasted of the best crop of players in the modern era that gave ‘total football’ to the world, the Nationalmannschaft were known for their efficiency and never say die attitude.

1974 saw two players come head to head and later become legends of the game as Johan Cruyff was unfortunate not to lift the World Cup in Munich in the final against the Germans, while Franz Beckenbauer inscribed his ‘libero’ role into German folklore as he lifted the trophy as a player in 74 and again as manager in 1990.

The 1988 European Championships semi-final turned out to be a mini final as well as a mini war as the Dutch, led by another golden generation of players in the form of Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten, came from behind to beat the mighty Germans 2-1 in Hamburg. The match was so hotly contested that Ronald Koeman underlined the hatred that existed among the Dutch towards the Germans by provocatively wiping Germany’s Olaf Thon’s shirt on the indescribable part of his body in front of the home supporters at the end of the game.

The 1990 World Cup in Italy saw another memorable incident as both Frank Rijkaard and Rudi Voeller were sent off with the former spitting on the German but the eventual World Cup champions getting their revenge over the Dutch by outrunning them in a 3-1 knockout stage win that underlined the credentials of Franz Beckenbauer as a manager and the advent of Jurgen Klinsmann and Lothar Matthaus onto the world scene. Recent fixtures have been less incidental, yet the sting does remain; now the question is more about skill rather than hatred.

Serbia v Croatia

Croatia will miss Suker and company but a new generation will keep up the fight against the Serbs

This fixture is probably the fiercest of all, in terms of the politics that is involved not only within these two countries but across the Balkan peninsula. Although Serbia as an independent nation are yet to face Croatia on the international football stage but will soon meet in a World Cup qualifier on March 22 in Zagreb, stakes remain always high when Orthodox Christian Serbs meet Catholic Croatians on the sporting stage. The breakup of Yugoslavia is surrounded with ravaging tales of war, destruction and ethnic cleansing and the memories of the brutal civil war in the 1990s are still fresh among Croats, Serbs and Bosnians. The hatred that still exists among the nations spills on to sporting arenas and violence has marred basketball, volleyball, handball, tennis and football matches whenever these two nations have faced each other, even on neutral lands where there are sizeable Serb and Croat communities.

Immediately after the war and formation of various small countries across the Balkans, Croatia underlined their football pedigree by qualifying for Euro 96 and reaching the quarter finals before unluckily losing to eventual champions Germany, but not before a host of players like Davor Suker, Zvonimir Boban, Slaven Bilic and many others had enchanted the world with their brand of free flowing football. The same golden generation went all the way to the semi finals of the 1998 World Cup, only to lose to the eventual champions France and beating Germany on the way before finishing third by getting past the mighty Dutch.

On the other hand Serbia (then known as Yugoslavia) were also producing fine players but their real test came when both the nations were pitted in the same qualification group for Euro 2000. Amidst all the tension, media uproar, crowd trouble and power outage in Belgrade, both games finished in tense draws with the first leg in Yugoslavia finishing goalless while a 2-2 draw in Zagreb ensured the Yugoslavs (modern Serbia) went through to Euro 2000 at the expense of their bitter rivals. No football matches between the countries have taken place since then and it remains to be seen whether the March 22, 2013 fixture is as tense and fierce as any other Serbia-Croatia match.