FRANZ Beckenbauer will always be regarded as one of the all-time greats among world footballers, and it was on this day in 1965 that he made his debut for the then West Germany in a 2-1 win over Sweden. He went on to win 103 caps between 1965 and 1977 after which he signed a $2.5m contract with New York Cosmos.
After the victory over Sweden, Beckenbauer won a regular place in the German side and the next year he played in the World Cup final against England at Wembley.
Despite being a creative player, West German manager Helmut Schoen gave the Bayern Munich man the job of marking Bobby Charlton in the final which England won 4-2 after extra time.
Beckenbauer had his revenge. In 1968, he scored the goal that beat England to give the Germans their first ever win over them. And in 1970, he scored again when West Germany knocked England out of the World Cup in Mexico.
In 1972, the Germans won the European Championship, beating England on the way, with Becken-bauer as captain. And two years later, he led his country to a World Cup triumph on home soil when they beat Holland in the final.
Beckenbauer was the almost perfect modern sweeper, who gracefully moved upfield regularly to lend a hand in attack.
When his playing career was over he became national team coach and handled that with as much elegance as he did as a player. He led the Germans into the 1986 finals in Mexico and, despite playing down their chances, took them all the way to the finals where they lost to Argentina. Four years later in Rome, Germany won the World Cup, beating the Argentinians 1-0 in the final.
q1943: Australian Test cricketer Ian Chappell was born. He is the older brother of Gregg and played Test cricket until 1977 when he became captain of one of Kerry Packer's breakaway teams.
Ian Chappell played in 75 Tests, scoring 5345 runs at an average of 42.4. In 1973 he scored two centuries in the same match against New Zealand in Wellington.
q1956: Manchester United became the first British club to reach double figures in any of the three major European tournaments when they beat Anderlecht, of Belgium, 10-0.
q1960: The first two matches in the English League Cup were played. Bristol Rovers beat Fulham 2-1 and West Ham beat Charlton 3-1.
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