The Bayer 05 Uerdingen celebration of the DFB Cup – da:rp-online.de
Article by Giovanni Manenti
The German Football Cup does not boast the same traditions as the English FA Cup, dating back to the first edition in 1935, when it was called “Tschammer Cup”, to then assume the current definition of DFB Cup (i.e. Deutscher Fussball Bund Pokal, Cup of the German Football Federation…) since the resumption of the Event after the tragic events of the Second World War, which took place in the 1952-’53 season…
And, even compared to the equivalent English competition, there is a smaller distribution of successes, given that to do the “lion’s share” is none other than the Bayern Munich, capable of reaching the Final on 24 occasions, with an impressive record of 20 victories against only four defeats.
In such a context – a bit like what happens in the Bel Paese with Juventus, which boasts 14 victories and 7 defeats in the 21 Italian Cup finals played – you will realize that the few occasions that the Bavarian battleship failed to make are much more newsworthy to raise the Trophy in relation to successes, especially when the first time this happens to her it certainly won’t be at the hands of a “Top Club”, but of an outsider which, on that occasion, won what still represents the pinnacle of its history…
City of over 200 thousand inhabitants located in the North Rhineland, not far from the border with Holland, Krefeld boasts a single football club, namely Uerdingen 05 founded in 1905 from the name of a city suburb, which in 1953 was founded with the Bayer AG Uerdingenthe sports club of the employees of the pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG, thus giving life to the Soccer club Bayer 05 Uerdingen.
It is not that this important sponsorship immediately bears fruit, given that the team continues to play for a long time in the Amateur Championships and only in 1971 did it obtain promotion to the Regionalliga Westwhich at the time was a sort of Second Division between different championships divided territorially, the winners of which then gave rise to a Final Phase for access to the Bundesliga…
The escalation from then on is also rapid, with Bayer 05 to finish third in the two-year period 1973-’74 so as to acquire the right to be part of the newly formed 2.Bundesliga – divided into Group North and South – complete with second place behind Hannover 96 at the end of the 1994-’95 season obtaining promotion to the Bundesliga,
The debut in the top German tournament (Western at the time…) ends bitterly with the 18th and last place and consequent immediate relegation, only to return in 1979 – promoted as second in the Northern Group, curiously behind Bayer Leverkusen, another team sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry giant – and suffer a second relegation two years later late …
However, experiences are useful to acquire the necessary experience so that, later a third Promotion at the end of the 1982-’83 season – in a reformed 2.Bundesliga with only one single group – finishing behind Waldhof Mannheim and Kickers Offenbach, May Bayer 05 Uerdingen experience the best of times of its entire history.
Finished the following Bundesliga in tenth position without ever risking being involved in the fight to avoid relegation, the management alternates the coach Timo Konietzka with the 50 year old Karl-Heinz Feldkamp (one of those who in Italy would be called “Provincial coaches” …), even though he has just had positive experiences at the helm of the Kaiserslautern, with two third and as many fourth places in the Championship, Finalist of the DFB-Pokal in 1981 and semi-finalist in the UEFA Cup the following year…
Feldkamp inherits a staff that has its own strengths in the goalkeeper Werner Vollack, in the central defender and Captain Matthias Herget and in the brothers Friedhelm and Wolfgang Funhelthe first and eldest of whom he already trained for two years at Kaiserslautern, while the second joins his colleague during the summer transfer market, coming from Rot-Weiss Oberhausen…
Market session that also leads to the technician’s court The difensor Karl-Heinz Wohrlin and the attacking duo formed by the 25-year-old Wolfgang Schafer, taken from Union Solingen and Icelandic Larus Gudmundssonvice versa coming from the Belgians of Waterschei.
Cup tournament which opened at the beginning of September 1984 after the first two days of the Bundesliga had already been played – which saw Uerdingen begin with a narrow defeat (0-1) at Werder Bremen and then comeback to win 2-1 against Borussia Dortmund – with the relative draw not creating excessive problems, given the pairing with Oldenburg, easily eliminated 6-1 with a doublet by Helmut Gulich…
The second round is more difficult, even if played in front of its own audience, as opposes Bayer 05 to the equal category of Fortuna Dusseldorf, Finalists in three consecutive editions (1978-’80), winning the Trophy on the last two occasions, for a challenge that it was resolved in the second half thanks to the centers of Schafer and Horst Feilzer, to which the guests only countered Bockenfeld’s late replyin a round that saw the elimination of Cologne (1-2 in Hannover) and Borussia Dortmund, who lost 2-3 to Schalke 04 in the replay.
Therefore qualified for the Round of 16, they were played in the Christmas week of 1984 before the winter break and, this time, the ballot was more favorable than ever for Uerdingenwho moreover has to wait for the final minutes to prevail 2-0 (goals from Herget and Schafer) on the Geislingen pitchwhile Schalke (also a 0-1 victim of Hannover 96) and Stuttgart, eliminated on penalties by Saarbrucken, exit the scene…
And Bayer is doing itself honors in the Bundesliga, having finished the first round in fourth place with 21 points tied with Borussia Monchenglasbach and four points behind Bayern, leaders and more eager than ever to return to raising theChampionship trophy” after three lean years, a period which in Bavaria is considered too long.
The Tournament of DFB-Pokal resumes on 16 February 1985 with the first two matches of the quarterfinals who see the Borussia ‘Gladbach won 2-1 on Soilingen and Saarbrucken put an end to Hannover’s adventure thanks to Blattel’s sharp single 15′ from time, while it was postponed to March 12th the match that sees Bayer Uerdingen host Werder Bremen still in contention for the Bundesliga title…
For Feldkamp’s team this is an opportunity to equal the best Cup run in its history – dating back to the 1978-’79 season when, despite playing in the 2nd Bundesliga, he reached the semi-finals only to lose 0-1 to Hertha Berlin – a goal that cannot be missed for the joy of the 15 thousand who fill the “Grotenburg Stadium”, thanks to a very proud proof that allows her, concluded the first half behind due to the goal scored by Reinders in closing, of overturn the outcome with Herget’s center at the start of the second half and Gudmundsson’s seal just before the stroke of 10′ and therefore resist the opposing offensives…
To complete the picture of the semi-finalists, the winner of the last match postponed to 26 March 1985 which pitted Bayern against Bayer Leverkusenwhose result was swung in favor of the Bavarians by Roland Wohlfatrth’s brace during the first half and rounded off in the second half by Mathy after the South Korean Cha Bum-kum had given the home team some hope.
The next draw for the semi-finals scheduled for April 6th allows Bayer 05 to avoid the two “worse customers”, proposing the challenge in the external field against Saarbrucken, which was resolved by a goal from full-back Norbert Brinkmann just over a quarter of an hour from the end due to the bitter disappointment of the 32 thousand who crowded the stands of the “Ludwigspark” …
Conversely, the challenge between the two is more balanced than ever.”historical adversaries” of the previous decade Bayern and Borussia, which attracts over 50 thousand spectators at the “Olympic Stadium” of the Bavarian capital and that yes extended to extra time before a penalty kicked by Danish Soren Lerby broke the balancewho has been in Munich for a year coming from Ajax Amsterdam.
So make an appointment for the final act on Sunday 26 May 1985 at “Olympic Stadium” in Berlinwhich from that edition assumes the role of fixed venue for the DFB-Pokal Finals, with Bayern not yet sure of the Bundesliga title, boasting only a two-point margin (46 to 44) over Werder Bremen two rounds from the end of the Tournament…
Surely, having no other objective than the Cup Final may have been a significant advantage for Herget & Co., of course, only by comparing the formations of the two teams can we see an abysmal difference on paper, given their presence in the The team coached by Udo Lattek of excellent champions Dremmler, Augenthaler, Matthaus, Lerby, Wohlfarth and Dieter Hieness.
But football, as we know, is no stranger to offering surprises. even if the fate of the “aspirin” seems marked as soon as Dieter Hoeness gave Bayern the lead after just 8 minutes of play with a surgical diagonal strike with a left foot that sends the ball into the bottom corner to the left of Vollack…
Hit cold, the Bayer 05 has the great merit of immediately rebalancing the fate of the match thanks to Feizer who, guiltily left alone on the right side of the penalty area, undisturbed collects a cross from the left by Buttgereit which is headed by Augenthaler to strike Aumann with a precise right-footed volley for the 1-1 point with the two teams gain the locker rooms for the interval.
The second turning point of the meeting occurs in start of the second half, when Dremmler intervenes harshly on Gudmundsson, a foul that match director Werner Fockler judges worthy of an expulsiona circumstance which leads Lattek to take action by inserting Beierlorzer in place of the attacker Wolhlfarth, but which on the other hand gives further impetus to the opponents…
Who capitalize on their numerical superiority halfway through the second half, when a through ball from Buttgereit (him again…!!) passes Schafer in the center of the area to allow the winger to fix the ball and then overcome Aumann in desperate exit for the final 2-1 point, with Bayern, having pushed forward in search of an equalizer, risking further capitulation with Friedlhelm Funkel shooting an easy deflection from the spot high over the crossbar.
At the final whistle he is uncontainable the joy of the Uerdingen supporters who had faced the trip to Berlin cradling what they believed to be only a tenuous hope and which, vice versa, had just been transformed into a splendid realitywhile Bavarian players, coaches and fans are still wondering how they could, after 7 victorious finals, give up in front of one of their most modest opponents, at least on paper…
Who knows if in Munich they will have ever heard of the legend of David against Goliath…