Berti Vogts vs Ernst Happel

UEFA Euro 2012, qualification round. Austria vs. Germany, derby time - looking forward to watch the game tonight (as my Austrian brother-in-law certainly is). But while German football somehow is recovering from it's past, Austrian football currently is stuck on a mountain trail.

Berti Vogts, caricature for the Berlin Newspaper B.Z, 1998.

Back in 1998 German football was hitting rock bottom. During the World Cup in France the national team showed an awkward performance, both aesthetically (you were used to that) and seen from the results (which was in a way unusual) and consequently dropped out the tournament  after being defeated 0:3 by Croatia in the quarter finals. Even more embarrassing how German national coach Hans Hubert "Berti" Vogts handled the defeat. After the game he refused to shake hands with the Croatian coach, and later in an interview accused the Danish referee Rune Pedersen of having manipulated the game, because "all the other nations are jealous about the German success", quite a paranoid exclamation from the German bourgeoise soul.
Shortly after Vogts had to resign, which compared to Michael Laudrup's end of career during the same tournament was a diametrically opposed concept in handling a defeat.

Ernst Happel, drawing by Hajo Pogoda

Ernst Happel on the other hand is without any doubt one of the most outstanding personalities in Austrian football and one of the most successful football coaches ever (several national championships in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, several European championships, second place World Cup 1978). He was famous for being pondering silent, almost grouchy (Austrian dialect: grantig) and once titulated by the dreaded sportswriter Max Merkel as being alike "the late Beethoven".

The portrait is by Hajo Pogoda, my old master in drawing, sculpturing and tennis - one of the most important persons in my life.

Anyway - the game tonight is in Vienna, Ernst-Happel-Stadium. Regarding the hostname, one could expect that the two teams are trying to avoid a mutual low point, as in 1982 - the "Shame of Gijon", while the Germans, when meeting Austria, always have to face the 1978 "Shame of Córdoba (Austrian match winner Hansi Krankl back then: "When I see a German, I become a lawn-mower").

Austria vs. Germany. Oh boy, what a shame!