LONDON, March 21 - A 40-year-old grudge over a goal Germans say never
went in failed to dampen the party atmosphere when the 60- and 70-somethings of
the 1966 World Cup final swapped jokes and anecdotes in London.
Their reunion kicked off with a cruise on the river Thames on Monday evening,
and it took only a few glasses of champagne before the former rivals were
reliving the match.
"It feels really great. Some of them we haven't seen for a long, long time,"
England midfielder Bobby Charlton, 68, told Reuters.
The festivities continued on Tuesday with a visit to Wembley stadium and a
lunch meeting with British Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Gordon
Brown.
"You are our great sporting heroes, you're legends of sport in our time, we
owe you an incredible debt of gratitude for what you've achieved," Brown said in
a speech.
Some of the West Germany players still harked back to the controversial goal
from Geoff Hurst in England 4-2 win at Wembley.
His second goal of a unique World Cup final hat-trick was awarded after the
referee consulted with his linesman, Hurst's extra-time shot cannoning off the
underside of the bar and narrowly over the line in the officials' opinion.
"It was a final that we arguably lost, but there can only be one winner and
we have to accept that, unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it,"
defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger said.
"It was very painful at the time. The pain is gone after 40 years, the wound
has healed," goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski, 70, said.
2006 CHANCES
The meeting was also a chance to discuss the potential of the two 2006
national teams ahead of this year's World Cup in Germany, which starts on June
9.
"England this year have got some very good players. We've got some
tremendously gifted midfield players. World Cups are governed and won by the
best midfield players," centre back Jack Charlton, now 70, said.