The youngest players among the 1966 World Cup semi-finalists were 20-year-old Anatoliy Banishevskiy, Azerbaijan's ‘golden player’ of the Soviet Union team, and Franz Beckenbauer of West Germany, who was just under 21.
Their teams faced for reaching the World Cup final, where Beckenbauer scored against legendary Lev Yashin from outside the penalty area with a powerful shot into the near corner of the goal, and then few moments later he was cautioned for a foul.
As for Banishevskiy, “he was openly knocked down and the referee awarded for this... a corner kick,” so ironised the Soviet Union press over the episode that took place at the beginning of the second half in the penalty area of the West Germany.
Banishevsky’s team spent the entire second half in the minority and lost, here are some statistics of the match West Germany vs Soviet Union (2-1): shots on target 11-4, fouls 19-18, offsides 2-0, cautions 1-1, sent off 0-1.
The notable linesman Tofiq Bahramov, another Soviet Union representative of Azerbaijani origin at the 1966 World Cup together with the referee counted the famous goal of England at the final, which to this day causes controversy and discussion and played a significant role in the Germans' 2-4 loss in extra time.
Eight years later Beckenbauer already as captain of the national team managed to win the FIFA World Cup title at home.
Before that they won the UEFA European Championship in 1972. The Germans beat the Soviet Union with an even more obvious advantage 3-0 at the final.
Banishevskiy was the scorer hope for the Soviet Union team. According to the press of those years, as directed by the coach during free kicks against them the whole team except him had to retreat to their own goal, and if a penalty were awarded, it was to be executed by an Azerbaijani forward. However, Banishevskiy came close to scoring only once, he was a bit late to catch Volodymyr Onyshchenko's pass from the left wing.
As a result, Banishevskiy was recognized as one of the culprits of the defeat and was no longer invited to the Soviet Union team, despite his significant contribution to the victory over Yugoslavia in Moscow in the quarterfinals, thanks to which they reached the final four.
Beckenbauer continued to make further successes.
He won three consecutive European Cups from 1974 to 1976 at club level with Bayern Munich, and the latter feat made him the first player to win three European Cups as captain of his club.
Beckenbauer was the first captain to lift the World Cup and European Championship at the international level and the European Cup at the club level.
He is also the first man to have won the World Cup title as team captain as well as head coach (1990).
Beckenbauer, winner of the Ballon d'Or in 1972 and 1976, is the only defender to have won the prestigious award more than once.
Like another legend Johan Cruyff, he was among the nominees for the Ballon d'Or 12 times before being overtaken by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The German tried to be fair while was talking about the Dutchman, with whom they competed for the title of ‘best’ in the seventies of the last century, although they played in different positions: “Johan was a better player, but I won the World Cup.”
I voted for Beckenbauer as a member of the jury for the Ballon d'Or Dream Team by France Football in 2020 and he was voted the best centre-back of all time. He was ahead of such players as Franco Baresi, Sergio Ramos, Fabio Cannavaro, Bobby Moore, Daniel Passarella, Marcel Desailly, Ronald Koeman, Matthias Sammer and Gaetano Scirea.
Banishevskiy died at 51, Beckenbauer lived 78 years.
Beckenbauer probably wouldn't have minded being president of FIFA or UEFA, but he wasn't destined to serve in those positions. Despite the fact that his name was implicated in the FIFA corruption scandal, he will remain one of the best footballers in history. Beckenbauer is the only player to have participated in two finals of the FIFA World Cup (1966, 1974) and the UEFA European Championship (1972, 1976)!
Rasim Movsumzadeh
Idman.biz
