۳ July 1974 remains a memorable day in the history of the FIFA World Cup™ for many reasons. In the global showpiece, which was held in West Germany, the host nation faced Poland in what turned out to be a pivotal moment en route to their second World Cup title.
The stakes, as well as the adverse weather conditions, are still talked about to this day. This is the story of the legendary “Water battle of Frankfurt”.
The contest was the finale of the second-round group, the modern-day equivalent of a semi-final. The format used at the time began with an initial group stage with four groups of four, followed by a second group stage with two groups of four. The two winners of the second group stage met in the final, while those who finished second in their groups were slotted into the third place match.
Poland had earlier beaten the likes of Italy, Yugoslavia and Argentina and were joint-favourites for the title. West Germany, meanwhile, had put an early defeat to their East German neighbours behind them and were in the slightly more favourable position, as a draw would be enough for them to win the group and make it through to the final.
All thoughts of silverware or first place finishes were soon forgotten due to the monsoon-like rain which descended on the area. The Frankfurt Waldstadion was hit by a torrent of 14 litres per square metre, a deluge that left the pitch unplayable by most standards. Austrian referee Erich Linemayr was not prepared to let the match kick off, reporting that, “raindrops (were) bouncing half a metre off the ground”.
Shortly before the tournament began, a special clay tank had been brought into Frankfurt to stabilise the turf and the layers below ground – a precautionary measure to ensure that the intensive watering and fertilising of the pitch would not go to waste. Ironically, it ended up turning the pitch into a swimming pool.
Water cylinders, pumps and hundreds of metres of fire hoses were used, but despite these measures and the best efforts of everyone working in the stadium, it was impossible to get the water levels under control. The pumps ended up being so overused that many of them packed it in almost immediately. And while the levels did fall and the rain also stopped, the playing surface was far from satisfactory.
Nevertheless, there were 60,000 fans in the stadium and television channels were broadcasting live all around the world, so the referee got the match under way with a mere half-hour delay to the planned kick-off time.
“It was like water polo, it was just impossible. In catastrophic conditions like that, you just couldn’t play the ball,” recalled tournament top-scorer Grzegorz Lato of Poland years later.
Poland were quicker out of the blocks but could not find a way to create chances on such a slippery surface. The most promising tactic appeared to be shooting from distance, but even that failed to bring about any danger and the first half ended goalless.
After the break, West Germany found their rhythm and managed to win themselves a penalty. Uli Hoeness grabbed the ball and had the opportunity to put his side within touching distance of the final. “Unlike good penalty-takers, I didn’t step up and simply shoot without thinking about it – I actually began really ruminating on it,” said Hoeness years later to the DFB website. Poland keeper Jan Tomaszewski read it the whole way and pushed the penalty aside.
Tomaszewski’s counterpart Sepp Maier also played his part in keeping the match scoreless with a few smart saves of his own, saying after the match: “It was rare that I had to concentrate as much as I did that day. The surface was terrible and you couldn’t judge any of the balls properly. That’s why I’m so pleased that I put in one of my best World Cup performances to date.”
Midway through the second half, the rain returned and the pitch became even more challenging, but this somehow sparked West Germany to life. With a quarter-hour to go, the decisive goal finally arrived. As he did so often throughout his career, Gerd Muller found himself in the right place at the right time in the opposition penalty box to make it 1-0.
That would prove to be the only goal of the game, thanks in no small part to Maier saving everything that Poland threw at him in the dying stages. “Under normal conditions, we might not have stood a chance,” said Franz Beckenbauer after West Germany had made it through to the final. “It was a game of chance!” team-mate Rainer Bonhof added. “I never felt so spent in my entire life…”
Poland’s dreams of making the final were thus washed away, even if they took some consolation by later defeating Brazil to secure third place. West Germany, meanwhile, got to travel down to Munich where they were crowned world champions days later.