many observers reckoned the Euros in Yugoslavia would be a straight shootout between those sides. Czechoslovakia had other plans, however, and defeated the Dutch in the semi-final 3-1 after extra-time.


J In the final, held at the Crvena


Zvezda Stadium in Belgrade, the Czechs were winning 2-0 after 25 minutes but the Germans clawed back two goals – as they had done in the final in Munich in 1974. But their eastern European opponents held strong and the game went to penalties. After German forward Uli Hoeneß


missed his spot-kick, up stepped Antonin Panenka and, with the wait of history and expectation of his proud nation, he coolly chipped the ball over goalkeeper Sepp Maier to secure his country’s one and only major trophy. It was one of the cheekiest moments in football history and his name became synonymous with the style of penalty. The midfielder later explained:


“After each training session I used to stay behind after a game with our goalkeeper and take penalties – we would play for a bar of chocolate or a glass of beer. Since he was a very good goalkeeper it became an expensive proposition for me. So, sometimes before going to sleep I tried to think of ways of getting the better of him, to recoup my losses.”


“I got the idea that if I delayed the kick and just lightly chipped it, a goalkeeper who dived to the corner of the goal could not jump back up into the air, and this became the basis of my philosophy,” said Antonin Panenka. “Eventually I perfected it and the culmination was when I used it at the European Championship.”


www.itv.com/sport/football ITV GUIDE | EURO 2012


ohan Cruyff’s Holland had missed out in the World Cup final against West Germany two years previously, and


ANTONIN PANENKA CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1976


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