Matthaeus the hero

Press, 19 June 1986, Page 26

Matthaeus the hero

NZPA-Reuter Monterrey An eighty-eighth minute goal by the midfielder, Lothar Matthaeus, was enough to put West Germany in the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a victory over Morocco at Monterrey yesterday. West Germany, stifled for most of the game by the reflex saves of the Moroccan goal-keeper, Badou Ezaki, advances to play Mexico, which beat Bulgaria 2-0 in the second round.

The Moroccan coach, Jose Faria, said after the match: “Obviously I’m disappointed that we are out of the competition, but nevertheless I’m very pleased with the way my team played, particularly against such a strong team as the Germans.

“The heat obviously played a big part and that is why there were so few attacks, with each team kaway. “But despite our disappointment, we can go home proud of the way we have played throughout the World Cup.”

The German coach, Franz Beckenbauer, said: “It was an extremely difficult match for us, bui

that was what we expected. Morocco are a very strong team and they showed just why they deserved to qualify. “We knew they would try to make us run and take advantage of the heat to wear us down and that’s why we couldn’t play the game we wanted to, and although we had four or five chances to wrap it up, we had to wait until the very end to make sure we got through. “Obviously, the match against Mexico will be a completely different story. It will be up to the Mexicans, in front of their own crowd, to set the pace and we’re prepared for an extremely difficult game.”