Sweden stop German World Cup champions

The team of the German Football Association, DFB, participated in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden for the first time as World Cup champions.

Four years after the “Miracle of Berne” the “Chief“, Josef “Sepp“ Herberger, still relied on a few trusted heroes who got to know the “Spirit of Spiez” at the 1954 World Cup quarters on Lake Thun near Berne. Horst Eckel, 26, Helmut Rahn, 28, Fritz Walter, 37, and Hans Schaefer, 30, were the World Cup champions remaining in the team. Young players such as Horst Szymaniak, 23, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, 19, and Uwe Seeler, 21, appeared as their successors.

Two of these champions from Berne showed the lead in Sweden. The “Boss”, Helmut Rahn, proved his reputation as a goalscorer with six goals in six matches. Hans Schaefer impressed with three goals in six matches. Hans Cieslarczyk joined them as the third marksman for the 10 German goals. The captaincy had changed since Berne. Hans Schaefer, the best left winger of the 1954 World Cup, succeeded Fritz Walter. A fan made him the present of a Volkswagen for this promotion – so Schaefer no longer took the tram to training.

Schaefer was born a real Cologne boy on October 19, 1927, the son of a hairdresser in the district of Zollstock. After playing with Rot-Weiss Zollstock and VfR Volksmarsen he finally joined 1. FC Cologne and was in the team that won the national championship in the first Bundesliga season in 1964. During his 17-year career he played 507 competitive matches with Cologne and scored 304 goals. In addition he achieved 15 goals in 39 international matches between 1952 and 1962.

Eckel about captain Schaefer: “It is a punishment to play against him”

Colleague Horst Eckel said about “de Knoll“, as Schaefer was nicknamed because of his stubbornness: “Nobody liked to play against Hans, it was a punishment. He never lost the ball.” Herberger had trusted Schaefer as a striker in 1954. Schaefer thanked him with four goals in five matches. And it was Schaefer who passed the ball to Helmut Rahn for the winning goal against Hungary (3-2) in the final.

But Berne now belonged to history, Sweden was the present. “We really wanted to retain our World Cup title”, Schaefer still says today. Herberger’s direction was towards victory and they indeed made it into the “Big Four” in 1958.

Germany defeated Argentina 3-1 in Group 1, and drew 2-2 with Czechoslovakia and Northern Ireland. This was sufficient to finish top of their group. Then Germany beat Yugoslavia 1-0 in Malmo in the second round. The road into the semi-final against the Swedish hosts was clear and the second final in DFB history seemed up for grabs.

“Jusko” sent off in the “Battle of Gothenburg”

The match made history as the “Battle of Gothenburg”. The Scandinavians won 3-1. In front of 52,000 spectators cheering their team with the help of cracking whips, Schaefer scored to take the lead 1-0 in the 24th minute. A disputed equaliser followed 10 minutes later. The match became tougher in the second half. The 31-year-old Dusseldorf defender Ernst Juskowiak lost his cool with a revenge foul on Kurt Hamrin in the 59th minute. It was the first red card for a German player at a World Cup. “Jusko” later apologised to friends and foes. The encounter at Gothenburg’s “Madhouse” continued to be rough. Fritz Walter was badly fouled in the 75th minute. The almost 38-year-old could only finish his 61st international match limping. “We didn’t have any chance with nine against eleven, otherwise we would have made the final”, Schaefer says. The decisive actions: Gunnar Gren made it 2-1 to Sweden in the 80th minute, seven minutes later Hamrin scored the final goal for the 3-1 victory. Heated up by hot headlines, there was certain tetchiness later between Germany and Sweden.

While Sweden made the final against Brazil, Germany fought France for the bronze medal. A DFB team had not defeated France for 21 years -- this time they lost 6-3. Schaefer, Rahn and Cieslarczyk scored the German goals, Frenchman Just Fontaine netted the ball four times, Raymond Kopa and Yvon Douis contributed the remaining French goals. “It was no longer important whether you finished third or fourth. Sweden was a great experience with a result all Germany could live with. Accordingly we were again heartily welcomed home.”

This had changed by 1962. But Schaefer competed again in Chile and became the first DFB player ever to participate in three World Cup finals. In the autumn of 2008, Hans Schaefer was one of the last three living players, with Horst Eckel and Ottmar Walter, from the World Cup champion team that was on the pitch at Wankdorf Stadium on July 4, 1954. Schaefer still is an elected member of the six-person Honorary Board of 1. FC Cologne and lives at Cologne Lindenthal.

As in no other tournament, the players on the pitch made history with their feet in 1958. Germany lost the “Golden Goddess”, the Jules Rimet Cup, to Brazil. The Brazilians won the first of their altogether five titles. Pelé made his first appearance on the World Cup stage at the age of 17 and had a great share in winning the title. And 13 goals scored by Frenchman Just Fontaine during the tournament are still listed as a World Cup record.