Franz Beckenbauer A Sweeper's Legacy Beyond the Field

 Franz Beckenbauer A Sweeper's Legacy Beyond the Field

Franz Beckenbauer, member of the West German soccer team who later signed a contract with the New York Cosmos.(Image-Getty)

Franz Beckenbauer is not just a TV movie to me. I have seen face to face. Incidentally, he was still wearing white clothes, and he was still sneaking around. Just because he ended his playing career 23 years ago, he cannot be called 'young'. Age has left an impression not only on the eyes, but also on the face. He was about 61 then. I went to Germany to cover the World Cup football for the first time in my life. Beckenbauer was the man of the 2006 World Cup. Moving from venue to venue. Outside the press conference, I saw it closely two or three times. Many more times from a distance.

Where the footballer Beckenbauer stood out, I know more than I know from watching his game. All this was not necessary to understand the specialty of organizer Beckenbauer. Witness it yourself. Having never covered the World Cup before, I was in no position to judge whether Germany's 2006 World Cup hosting was good or bad. However, I understand what journalists who have covered the World Cup for 10-12 hours are excited about the World Cup in Germany.

However, I understood a little on the first day of the World Cup. In a World Cup opening ceremony where there is little to say about football beyond dance, song and lights, Germany's World Cup opening ceremony was a delightful exception. Earlier, all the footballers who won the World Cup were invited to the event. The World Cup winning teams entered the field one by one like an Olympic march past. A party is no longer a party. Not everyone lives in that day anymore. Many alive could not come due to various reasons. Even so, those who did make it to Munich's Allianz Arena were treated to a legendary showdown. From whose head the thought came, it seems needless to say.

How strange that Mario Jagalo and Franz Beckenbauer left two days ago! These two names have been pronounced together for many years. He won the World Cup by playing, then coached. 20 years after Beckenbauer shared the glory of Brazil's Mario Zagallo, the only person to achieve this feat, I saw some people make a fine distinction between the two. Zagalo was not the captain of Brazil's 1958 World Cup winning team. Only Beckenbauer is credited with winning the World Cup in both roles – captain and coach. Didier Deschamps won the 2018 World Cup and didn't leave Beckenbauer alone there either.

Apart from these fine judgments, it is better to keep these three together. But it is only specifically in the case of this 'double'. Franz Beckenbauer cannot be tied to this feat alone. As a player, he is much bigger than the other two. Be that as it may, Beckenbauer stands out for being more involved with the game after his retirement. How many roles! Coach, administrator, organizer, influencer—all in all, Franz Beckenbauer is perhaps the most influential figure in football history. Can say, one and unique.

Is it better to finish the sports section first? Even after doing so much, that is Beckenbauer's main identity. He has won everything that is possible to win in football. Many others have won it. Where does Beckenbauer stand out from the rest? Before answering this question, let's do a little introduction. If anyone is asked to make a list of the greatest footballers of all time, some names are bound to be common. If you leave out the more recent Messi-Ronaldo and the more recent Zidane, the names you get are pretty much Pele, Maradona, Ferenc Puskas, Johan Cruyff, Alfredo Di Stefano, Franz Beckenbauer. Now pay attention to the names. Quiz question with many names in a row, who is the 'odd man out' here, means who is different?

If we ask this question here too, Beckenbauer's greatness will become much clearer. All the rest are attacking players, whose job is to score and score goals. Only Beckenbauer's role was reversed. Whose main task is not to let the opponent score. Two Ballon d'Ors as a defender (nobody else has this feat), short list of all-time defenders. Because Beckenbauer wasn't just a defender. Started the game as a forward, later moved to midfield and defense. So was the addiction to attack blood.

He scored 4 goals in the first World Cup in 1966. The best budding players of that World Cup became even more mature as the next World Cup came around. After erasing the pain of losing in an epic semi-final of service, he lifted the World Cup trophy himself as the captain of West Germany next time.

Beckenbauer why Beckenbauer - this, of course, does not explain. You may be waiting for the word that will come to mean it. That word is sweeper, which can also be changed to libero. Most of the players just play, a handful or two change the game. Beckenbauer is on the second team.

The sweeper position has been sporadically used in football before. However, no one ever imagined that the last wall sweeper behind the defense and in front of the goalkeeper could become such an attacking weapon. The unimaginable happened at Beckenbauer's feet. So much so that in the 1966 World Cup semi-final England coach Alf Ramsey asked his team's main striker Bobby Charlton to keep an extra eye on 'Germany's prettiest young player'. Bobby Charlton found out on the field, even if the coach didn't say it. Because Beckenbauer is clinging to him like a shadow. Immediately, he realized that German coach Helmut Schoen had put Beckenbauer behind him. After England won that match, Schoen was heavily criticized for blunting the German attack by not allowing Beckenbauer to play freely.

Defense on the ball He would get up smoothly and become part of the attack, sometimes extending the 30-40 yard perfect pass beforehand. An impressed New York Cosmos teammate, Vladislav Bogey, once said, 'He had eyes for every pass, finding his teammates.' Have I spent so much money to stand behind the defense!' When he sees the player standing behind the defense across the field.

Before he moved to New York, Bayern Munich had already become a European superpower. Since 1974, they have won the European Cup (now the Champions League) three times in a row, adding the Intercontinental Cup, recognized as the best club in the world, for a third time. Later, he became 'Mr. Bayern Munich' after being associated with this club in various roles as coach, president, advisor.

The part achieved in the World Cup has only been touched upon before. In short, his name is associated with four finals. As a player, once a champion, once a runner-up; The same as a coach. But he had no coaching experience before taking charge of the then West Germany in 1984.

A total of five World Cups as a player and coach. The 1970 World Cup, which never made the final, is remembered again for Beckenbauer's heroics. Aguan Beckenbauer dislocated his right arm from the shoulder in the semi-final against Italy after being tackled by opposing defender Pierluigi Serra. Only two players could be substituted then, Germany have done that. Beckenbauer played the rest of the season with the injured arm taped to his chest. Germany lost 4-3 in the extra-time semi-final, dubbed the 'match of the century'.

But Franz Beckenbauer seems to have won that day too!