MATTHAUS

LOTHAR MATTHAUS	BORN: MAR 21, 1961 COUNTRY: West Germany/Germany WORLD CUP APPEARANCES: 5 tournaments ('82, '86, '90, '94, '98) CLUBS: Moenchengladbach, Bayern Munich, Internazionale, Bayern Munich INTRODUCTION:Captain of the 1990 cup-winning German side. One of the 2 players to have played 5 World Cups.

1982 World Cup - Spain

YOUNG GUN
A young Lothar Matthaus

Matthaus made his World Cup debut in the 1982 tournament. He played the role as a midfield support player, appearing in a few matches. Germany reached the World Cup finals but Matthaus did not play in the game.

1986 World Cup - Mexico

Four years later, with Germany struggling against Morocco, Matthaus scored a crucial match-winning goal from a free-kick. Strong in defence as well as in attack, Matthaus was assigned by Beckenbauer to mark Maradona in the final against Argentina.

1990 World Cup - Italy

COMMANDING
Matthaus was Germany's captain and the commanding midfield general in the 1990 tournament

In 1990, Matthaus became German's lynchpin in midfield as well as captain. The midfield general gave some outstanding performances in the tournament in Italy, especially in Germany's first match against Yugoslavia. He scored two classy long-range goals in that opening match. Matthaus scored a total of four goals en route to the final and was considered as the tournament's greatest player.

1994 World Cup - USA

SURPRISING
Matthaus jumping as Stoichkov struck a free-kick in Germany's surprising 2-1 defeat by Bulgaria

Later Matthaus switched to the sweeper position and again skippered his country in USA '94. His efforts to defend the trophy were in vain. An ageing German side struggled to beat minor teams and went out to Bulgaria. But in the process, heequalled Maradona's record of number of World Cup appearances and also set a new German record number of international appearances.

1998 World Cup - France

With constant criticism of his teammates, Klinsmann in particular, Matthaus was dropped by coach Berti Vogts for the 1996 European Championship. He was not expected to be picked for the France World Cup. Now at the age of 38, Berti Vogts preferred Olaf Thon as the replacement for the inspirational Matthias Sammer. With Sammer unavailable through injury, Vogts finally chose Matthaus as Thon's back-up. But Germany's tame performance against Yugoslavia prompted Vogts to send on the veteran Matthaus to play midfield in the second half and German came back from 2 goals down to draw the game. This made Matthaus the only second man to play in 5 different World Cups and the only outfield player to do so.

Matthaus played in all the 3 following matches but was powerless to stop German to go down 3-0 against Croatia in the quarter-finals.

RECORD

Record number of World Cup tournament appearances: 5 tournaments (joint record with Mexico's Carbajal)
Record number of World Cup tournament appearances for outfield player: 5 tournaments
Record number of World Cup appearances: 25 games

HIS GOALS IN THE WORLD CUP - COMPLETE RECORD

1986
2nd round	v. Morocco

1990
1st round: 1st match	v. Yugoslavia (2)
1st round: 2nd match	v. UAE
Quarter-final	v. Czechoslovakia

1994
Quarter-final	v. Bulgaria

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