Germany’s 1990 World Cup hero Andreas Brehme has died.
Brehme endeared himself to the nation in the last when he scored a late penalty after workforce captain Lothar Matthäus’ boots broke to present West Germany a 1-0 win over Diego Maradona’s Argentina.
Brehme’s associate Susanne Schaefer instructed Germany’s dpa information company on Tuesday that he died “suddenly and unexpectedly” in the night time from a cardiac arrest. He was 63.
“I can’t believe it at all. The news of Andreas’ sudden death makes me incredibly sad,” nationwide teammate Rudi Völler mentioned. “Andi was our World Cup hero, but for me he was much more. He was my close friend and companion to this day. I will miss his wonderful love of life.”
Known affectionately as “Andi” Brehme, the Hamburg-born participant was a star of German soccer in the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties. He performed largely as an attacking left again and can at all times be related to the 1990 World Cup triumph.
He scored in the semifinal towards England, which West Germany finally gained on penalties, and his penalty determined the last. Winning the title introduced a wave of nationwide celebrations throughout Germany, which was in the course of of reunification after the fall of the Berlin Wall the yr earlier than.
Brehme’s title-winning goal in Rome was additionally celebrated a brief distance away at Inter Milan, the Italian membership he was enjoying for at the time as half of a formidable German trinity together with nationwide teammates Matthäus and Jürgen Klinsmann.
As captain, Matthäus would usually have taken West Germany’s penalty in the last, however the No. 10 broke his boots in the first half and didn’t really feel assured as his alternative boots had been too massive.
“It was a smart decision to let Andreas Brehme take the penalty,” Matthäus later mentioned.
“Someone has to step up. And for us, it was a case of whoever was feeling confident,” Brehme mentioned in a FIFA interview in 2017. “The main thing is that the penalty goes in and we become world champions.”
Brehme acknowledged the penalty determination was “dubious” although that didn’t cease him from tucking away the spot kick towards the beforehand unbeatable Argentina goalkeeper (*63*) Goycochea in the eighty fifth minute. West Germany had dominated the recreation however discovered Goycochea in impressed type.
“That night at the Olimpico, facing up against Sergio Goycochea, a fearsome goalkeeper who had already kept out Donadoni and Aldo Serena at the San Paolo, Brehme opted to take with his right (boot). A placed effort, almost caressed towards goal: he zipped it along the floor, right into the bottom left, unstoppable,” Inter wrote on the membership web site.
Brehme, who wheeled away and jumped in celebration, had already helped Inter to the Serie A title in 1989. He would go to win the UEFA Cup with the membership two years later.
“A magnificent player, a true Interista. Ciao Andy, forever a legend,” mentioned Inter, which introduced that it could put on black armbands throughout its Champions League match towards Atlético Madrid later Tuesday.
Brehme gained two Bundesliga titles, first with Bayern Munich in 1987, then in unbelievable style with promoted Kaiserslautern in his last season earlier than retirement in 1998.
Altogether, Brehme performed 10 seasons for the Red Devils over over two stints. He gained the German Cup with Kaiserslautern in 1996 – the similar season it was relegated from the Bundesliga. Brehme cried as he was consoled by Bayer Leverkusen’s Völler upon his workforce’s relegation. But he had a contented finish with the membership’s Bundesliga win two years later.
Kaiserslautern mentioned on Tuesday it was “deeply saddened” by Brehme’s sudden loss of life and it had tributes deliberate for the coming days.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge performed with Brehme for West Germany at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
“Andi was a great team player, very loyal and dependable. His love of life was contagious and it makes me so sad that he had to leave us at 63,” Rummenigge mentioned.
Brehme additionally performed for Real Zaragoza in Spain earlier than rejoining Kaiserslautern for his second stint.
He went into teaching after winning the Bundesliga with Kaiserslautern, first with the similar membership, which he led to the semifinals of the UEFA Cup in 2001, after which second-division Unterhaching. His final teaching function was at Stuttgart as assistant to educate Giovanni Trapattoni in the 2005-06 season.
Brehme’s loss of life comes the month after that of his good friend Franz Beckenbauer, who coached the World Cup-winning workforce in 1990.
“As a young boy I had, like probably every boy in Germany had, a Franz Beckenbauer poster hanging above my bed,” Brehme instructed dpa final month. “Later, he became my boss and I could work with him. And in the end we became close friends. So I have a lot to thank Franz for.”
Brehme performed 86 worldwide video games for West Germany and unified Germany.
“One of Germany’s greatest and best players of all time,” German soccer federation president Bernd Neuendorf said. “German football owes him a lot.”
