West Germany Beats the Netherlands to Win the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final
The 1974 FIFA World Cup Final was the final match of the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the 10th FIFA World Cup, a competition to determine the best national men's football team over the previous four years.
The match was contested by the Netherlands and West Germany, with the West Germans winning 2–1. The Netherlands opened the scoring via a Johan Neeskens penalty in the second minute, only for Paul Breitner to equalise with another penalty in the 25th minute before Gerd Müller scored the winning goal in the 43rd minute, claiming West Germany's second FIFA World Cup.
As the hosts and favorites, West Germany had been disappointing in the early stages with a defeat to East Germany in the first round the worst of the qualifying hiccups. There was even unrest in the usually stoic German dressing room with team captain Beckenbauer being begged by his team-mates to urge coach Helmut Schön to make changes in the team's line-up and tactics. The minor revolution paid dividends and the Germans upped their game in the knock-out rounds, beating Yugoslavia 2-0, Sweden 4-2 and the much-fancied Poland team 1-0 in the semi-final.
As the hosts and favorites, West Germany had been disappointing in the early stages with a defeat to East Germany in the first round the worst of the qualifying hiccups. There was even unrest in the usually stoic German dressing room with team captain Beckenbauer being begged by his team-mates to urge coach Helmut Schön to make changes in the team's line-up and tactics. The minor revolution paid dividends and the Germans upped their game in the knock-out rounds, beating Yugoslavia 2-0, Sweden 4-2 and the much-fancied Poland team 1-0 in the semi-final.
