(30) Germany-England

Highlights

Report

One of the most famous major tournaments matches, which actually went the same way as the other Euro'96 semifinal - the team who seemed to hold all of the cards (here, home advantage and Germany's ever-depleating squad size) let the game slip, and it was a famous Wembley victory for the visiting team. Berti Vogts' side fast equalised England's third minute goal and took advantage of Gareth Southgate's penalty miss, scoring all six of their kicks and qualifying for a final they were heavily favoured to win. The match itself was a great one, most exciting in the first period of golden goal extra time, and played in excellent sporting spirit by both teams - the tie quite justifies its own nostalgia.

A famous name for the big game, Sandor Puhl from Hungary was appointed by UEFA to referee the match. Puhl was widely praised for an authoritive performance, and did an outstandingly good job in the opinion of the nominated assessor Jozef Marko; in my opinion too, the Hungarian handled the game strongly. The report is segmented in two: first, a technical look at the most relevant incidents in the match, followed by an attempt to put it in some wider context in different respects.

Analysis

All of the following situations discussed feature in the montage video below.

16'

Missed offside prior to Germany goal

Unfortunately, we have to start on a negative note - one of the two goals in the match should actually not have stood. Thomas Helmer, who centred the ball for Stefan Kuntz to score the equaliser for Germany, was in an offside position when the ball was passed to him and the linesman, Imre Bozoky, overlooked it. The situation was a difficult one for the time ('reverse crossover') and indeed wasn't noticed back then; I wouldn't consider it a crucial mistake isolatedly (rather a loss of three tenths in the UEFA system as we know it today). However, Bozoky made another clear mistake later in the match and generally struggled with properly controlling foul assessments in his vicinity - and I would score his performance as 8,0-level. Meanwhile the other linesman, Laszlo Hamar, gave a very strong impression - his best decision came in the (lesserly) famous extra time miss, by Darren Anderton, when he played a great onside. 

19'

Defensive freekick awarded to Germany

Sandor Puhl showed an excellent reading of the game in a situation which I could envisage, especially nowadays, getting referees into a pickle. Teddy Sheringham makes a back for Stefan Reuter, who ends up bundling the England attacker down in the penalty area. Quite rightly, the Hungarian referee does not award a penalty but instead a freekick to Germany. This was amongst a number of episodes where Puhl showed an absolutely textbook ability to read the match, especially in positioning. Bravo! 

40'

Challenge by England no3

Puhl's thesis for refereeing this match was to react to fouls which came close to the yellow card threshold with an extremely light 'toot' on his whistle and to be in constant verbal contact with the players, warning them when needed. In this match, notable for the extremely high level of mutual respect between the two teams (helped also by the referee I think), this strategy worked really well. His approach was only really tested in this in epsiode, when Stuart Pearce crashed into Stefan Reuter. The replay manages to disabuse the initial impression that Pearce tried to wipe Reuter out with maximum force possible, as the England defender turns away his body away from the opponent at the last minute (unlike Thuram in the other semi), and seems to justify Puhl's course of action which was a non-sanction admonishment.

46', 73'

Yellow cards to Germany no.2 and England no.8 respectively

The first two of the three bookings both occured in inarguable situations. Reuter's caution, the opening card for the game and a key sanction for the German himself (missed the final), was excellently perceived.

79'

Yellow card to Germany no.7

This situation is more interesting. Andreas Moller was booked in a somewhat strange incident where he tried to execute a kick out at Stuart Pearce, who had tried to grab the German up from the ground in a blatantly aggrivatory manner. I think that Puhl decided correctly to book the Germany player (but not the England defender). Moller was clearly justified to 'push' away Pearce even in an aggressive manner, but the small kick directed at the England defender was 'too much' and worthy of censure. It seems that the Hungarian was irked by Moller's attitude after the kick and with a much apologetic tone toward the referee, my feeling is that the Germany midfielder would have escaped the booking. Part of the reason the situation is so interesting was is that by this caution, Moller collected his second of the tournament and was ruled out of the final - and it wasn't in a totally 'inarguable' situation either. Puhl, whom a year earlier more-or-less blatantly refused to send off Danny Blind in the Ajax-Bayern semifinal of the Champions League (so as to not have him suspended for the final), acted in a more strict manner here.

85'

Challenge by England no.7

Puhl did (very) well in this game. If this was, in many senses, a 'plum' appointment to land - then he earned it in my book by showing an effective performance during the group stage in a very different sort of match, Portugal-Turkey. The general idea of the praise for Puhl's refereeing in this game was along the same lines 'refstoriographically' as Archundia's semifinal in 2006: someone willing not to be slavish to the guidelines, and to apply 'common sense' refereeing. There is truth to that, but actually the guidelines and close UEFA focus rather helped Puhl in my opinion, for whom the worst 'excesses' in his style present in some games (fe UEFA Cup final 1993) never featured in this tournament. However, the negative elements in Puhl's way of refereeing were exemplified in this incident: a clear yellow card to David Platt was ignored 'for the sake of it' and then, in anger at the protestations of Andreas Moller, he shouts quite unreasonably and in a dictatorial manner at the fouled Matthias Sammer to get up. It is a pity that the Hungarian referee didn't just book Platt (who wouldn't have been suspended for the final either), because it is hard to defend both the non-caution and also Puhl's behaviour in this specific incident.

96'

Goal to Germany disallowed

The referee had already, in normal time, correctly pulled up Stefan Kuntz for a foul as he attacked a corner and he was correct to do so again in an episode where he denied Germany what would have been a golden goal. Puhl detected a push by Kuntz, not immediately as he rose for the ball but a second before, on Gareth Southgate and immediately awarded a freekick. While the coverage in Britain focused on the replay angle and considered the decision wrong, from the live sequence Kuntz's offence is quite clear.

116'

Tackle by England no.11

Unlike the 85' incident, here I would back up Puhl's decision not to sanction an England player. Steffen Freund was injured both out of the match and the final after a tackle by Darren Anderton, but Freund had put his leg across, to try and win a freekick. Had Puhl booked Anderton, it would together with Freund's injury have put two people out of the final simultaneously, but the non-yellow was to me correct.

For the second part, there are two elements to the background of the this match - the immediate context, and what would happen later; one is naturally more positive than the other. It seems most apt to deal with the negative things first, and finish on the better note.

1.

It would have been inconcieveable that this would have been Puhl's final match in either World Cups or Euros, but that is exactly how it turned out. The (long) chronology of events is thus:

1) In a Champions League group stage tie in Rotterdam, Feyenoord-Manchester United in early November/1997 Puhl's performance was rejected by the assessor Reidar Bjornestad. The most famous incident was Paul Bosvelt's horror foul on Dennis Irwin which only led to a verbal warning for the offending Bosvelt. Bjornestad was though (rightly) unhappy at the manner in which Puhl handled the whole game, which mirrored the Porto-Milan tie (1996/97 season) spoken about previously.

2) In mid-November/1997, Puhl was appointed by the FIFA referees committee to take charge in the second leg of the playoff Australia-Iran, decisive for the World Cup. FIFA were happy with his performance, but didn't consider observing this match a top priority.

3) In early December/1997, the UEFA referees committee met to determine the candidate referees they would recommend from whom FIFA would select the fifteen European officials for the next World Cup. Sandor Puhl was among them. But: at the same time, UEFA communicated that on account of the unpunished Bosvelt tackle in the Feyenoord-Manchester United game, Puhl had received a six-month suspension in UEFA competitions and would not referee any games until the 1998/99 season. This ban did not affect FIFA competitions, so Puhl could have still been selected for the World Cup in theory, but it served as a de facto torpedo of his chances for being selected to France '98. 

4) The suspension did not alter the voting of the IFFHS award though, given to Puhl for a fourth consecutive year for '97. Puhl had realised though that given UEFA's actions, his chances of being chosen for the World Cup were nil, and extremely disappointed he not only stopped refereeing internationally for the end of 97/98 as the ban dictated, but also domestically he only returned for the start of the next season.

5) Beginning from the next season, UEFA's consideration of Puhl fell into total demerit, and he was only considered for extremely minor matches. He played his final three years as an international referee in the 'wilderness', finishing on a prestigious Italy-England friendly in the Stadio delle Apli in Turin at the end of 2000. Without wishing to write something out of turn, I think one can read that UEFA had 'grown tired' of Sandor Puhl (who was not regarded for impeccable internal behaviour) and wanted to recommend his compatriot Laszlo Vagner, who was ultimately indeed selected, for the France '98 World Cup instead. 

2.

But, while such a long explanatory piece is neccessary, it would be unfair to end this text with it. Back in 1996, I guess it is hard to underline just how much Sandor Puhl was on top of the refereeing world - perhaps one could compare to Marciniak nowadays. This match ascertained Puhl's 'icon' status in the world of football (he became a transcendent, big figure in his own right) and was held at this time in huge regard by UEFA, who considered him a referee uniquely able to arouse respect from players on the field of play, and appointed him to the first post-Euro'96 Champions League final. 

To be widely (and deservedly I'd say) commended for the refereeing of such a potentially delicate and high profile game is very impressive. To finish this match with the most on-topic remark: UEFA were very happy with Sandor Puhl's performance in this marquee and much-fondly-remembered match.

Matchsheet

Sándor Puhl - 7 László Hamar - 7 Imre Bozóky - 5 Sándor Piller (assessor: marko)	Germany 1-1 England (aet, Ger win 6-5 in a penalty competition) Weds 26June 730pm, London Semifinal
Ger  Reuter (46') - SPA (Holding)  Möller (79') - Aggressive Behaviour	Eng  Gascoigne (73') - Tackle

Rest in Peace, Sandor Puhl (1955-2021).