SOCCER/DFB v GDR:Despite West Germany going on to win the World Cup on home soil in 1974, the East had earlier taken a significant and historic victory in the competition, writes DAMIAN CULLEN

AT LEAST the US and USSR had other avenues they could explore. In their high-stakes game of chicken, the Americans and Soviets regularly duelled during the Cold War, often using other countries as pawns. And one of both sides’ favourite weapons with which to bash the other, of course, concerned the race into space.

For four decades, however, the Federal Republic of Germany (West) and the German Democratic Republic (East) had just a single outlet to express their displeasure for the other.

West Germany were much slower realising the significance and political capital to be gained – and lost – in sporting clashes between the two, but were soon to use inter-German derbies to reinforce the official line that there was just one legitimate German state.

From the beginning, though, each cross-border sporting confrontation was treated in East Germany as a chance to legitimize the GDR. No opportunity was wasted in advertising the superiority of the socialist order in the face of the imperialist west. It must have made deciding who would take the kicks in the event of a penalty shoot-out fun.

And it was in the field of athletics and swimming that East Germany would compete most successfully, becoming an overnight success at the 1972 Olympic Games. While, for much of the post-war period, there was a unified Germany team at Olympic competitions – marked by constant bickering, in-fighting and internal boycotts – in 1968, the East entered the Olympics for the first time with its own team and under its own flag.

We know now, of course, that that fierce determination to prove itself on a world stage was underlined by the state’s willingness to use any means – legal and illegal – to climb the medals table.

Still, football was by far the most popular sport on both sides of the border and, while they clashed on the pitch in Olympic competition, West Germany could only field amateur players, limiting its political significance.

And then came the 10th edition of the World Cup finals, in 1974, hosted by West Germany.

East Germany qualified for the finals, and inevitably, perhaps, were placed in Group One – along with the other Germany.

For the first-time qualifiers from the East, Hamburg would be the location for the next battle in the class struggle. “Football success will highlight even more clearly the superiority of our socialist order in the area of sport,” said the head of state security in East Germany Erich Miekle.

The principal issues back then for the players were not whether they would be paid or not. And refusing to play, for any reason, was not an advisable option.

By the time the teams took to the field on June 22nd, 1974, at the Volksparkstadion for the final group match, both had already qualified for the second round. In the penultimate game earlier the same day, Australia and Chile had recorded a scoreless draw, thus ending their interest in the finals.

All that was left was to decide who would win the group.

Regardless, it was, perhaps, the most politically charged World Cup match ever played. And, in the end, it was East Germany who emerged with their most coveted scalp – thanks to a late Jürgen Sparwasser goal.

Both sides claimed victory – though in West Germany’s case it was belatedly. Reorganising the team in the wake of the humiliating defeat propelled them to their second World Cup title.

The battle between good and evil – depending on which side you were on – was already decided, however, and East Germany rejoiced in the aftermath of the historic victory.

Sparwasser was, in fact, already well on the road to becoming a hero in East Germany before the Hamburg game. Just a month earlier, he led FC Magdeburg all the way to the European Cup Winners’ Cup final where the club became the first, and only, East German side to claim a major European trophy, beating reigning champions AC Milan in Rotterdam.

The Italian club’s manager had only recently given up playing and had little or no experience. Only 35 years of age at the time, Giovanni Trapattoni has learned his trade well in the years since.

Welcomed back to Magdeburg as if they had personally overthrown the capitalist West in one blow, the GDR’s political leaders only realised they had overdone the celebrations when, a few weeks later, the state recorded a far greater sporting triumph.

In fact, it was the era for classic clashes between East and West. The previous October, Bayern Munich – who would go on to win the tournament for the first time that season – met Dynamo Dresden in the second round of the European Cup.

In the first leg, on the western side of the border, Dynamo shot to a 3-2 lead, but Bayern hit back to take a slender 4-3 lead into the second leg.

Within minutes of the second game beginning, two strikes looked to have ended the tie as a contest. It was 6-3 on aggregate, before the East side woke from their slumber and fired in three quick goals. Gerd Muller, however, had the final say, and Bayern left with a 7-6 victory.

The civil war between the two countries would continue, intermittently, and in various sporting guises, until the beginning of the 1990s – when, in fact, the two were drawn to meet in a Euro 1992 qualifier, before reunification put a stop to the fixture – but the rivalry would never again reach the heights of the mid-1970s.

1974 World Cup Finals (June 22nd)

Volksparkstadion, Hamburg (Att: 60,350)