Euro 2016 - I cannot but wait for the contest to commence

Whenever a clash between Germany and France show up, the memories of Seville tend to knock the doors in the memories of football fans who knows football apart from Brazil and Argentina, Real Madrid and Barcelona and Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

After the shock at Barcelona, where beautiful football died, the night in Seville was tragic and heartbreaking for the romanticists who loved to relish Michel Platini’s France. That match was like a commercial cinema, full of twists and turns - it had a villain, come back heroes and at the same time, tragic heroes who made the world weep for the second time.

Toni Schumacher’s violent effort to deny an umarked Patrick Battison from scoring a goal. Battiston’s three broken teeth, cracked ribs, broken vertebrae, half an hour of unconsciousness and drifting in and out of coma can’t be forgotten and moreover, the surpisring decision of the referee to show a red card to Schumacherand deny France of a penalty still stun the critics and fans.     

When France took a 3-1 lead in extra-time, it seemed justice has been done, but the Germans are a hard nut to crack – Karl-Heinz Rumenigge and Fischer equalized to take the game into the penalties where the Germans unleashed their astonishing record of winning each and every penalty shootouts in a major tournament. France lost and with that, the hearts of football romantics bleed as it was too much to bear for them after the shocking exit of Zico and Socrates’ Brazil.

Time has passed, the pathetic memories of Seville are still fresh in everyone’s mind.

Germany and France will meet again in a major tournament and this time around, France will again want to take revenge and that too by challenging the history.  

Germany and France have met 27 times where Germany recorded 9 wins while France 12. But in a major tournament, France have not beaten Germany since World Cup 1958. In that sense, Germany have the upper hand against the hosts.

But Germany will not be able to surface a full-strength side -  Sami Khedira and Mario Gomez will miss out through injury, while Mats Hummels – who scored the winning goal against France two years back in the FIFA World Cup, will be absent because of a suspension. Still, when it’s about Germany, you can never dare to write them off because of their immense ability to conquer adversities and unimaginable will power which have made me one of their fans.

Didier Deschamps’ France have been slow starters and against Iceland, they seemed to have found the right tune, still the opposition is Germany who are a well known predator when it comes to hunting the hosts. Brazil realized how heartless they can be two years back.

I cannot but wait for the match to commence as after the Italy v Germany clash, this match is expected to gift us yet another nerve-shedding affair.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar