Above: Kohler, Heinrich, Bierhoff, Reuter, Helmer. Below: Bobic, Kuntz, Möller, Thon, Kahn, Hässler.
Match 654.
World Cup qualifying.
11.10.1997
Hannover.
Referee: Pedersen (Norway).
Spectators: 44.522
Germany: Kahn, Thon, Kohler, Reuter, Helmer, Heinrich, Häßler, A. Möller, Kuntz (72. Marschall), Bierhoff, Bobic (60. Tarnat).
Albania: Strakosha, Shulku, Xhumba, Fakaj, Tole (79. Gallo), Kola, Rudi Vata, Haxhi, Bushi (90. Prenga), Halili (55. Peco), Tare.
Goals: 0:1 Kohler (55., owngoal), 1:1 Helmer (64.), 2:1 Bierhoff (73.), 2:2 Tare (80.), 3:2 Marschall (86.), 3:3 Rudi Vata (88.), 4:3 Bierhoff (90.).
Booked: Thon, Reuter; Fakaj.
Germany's / Deutschlands Nationalmannschaft 
Certainly “The mother of all the Battles!”
Only to think that we for a little bit could have a positive sor against Germany…it was like a dream that never wana wake up! And this dream hold for only 5-6 minutes!
But what about reactoin in one other piece of Europe, in Albania?
Here is the “story”! It was a bad moment of corse. Still the rebellion,anarchy and still no state, no governement is well! Very bad weather too!
When Rudi Vata drow the scor in the and it was already very bad satellite signal and with a dificulties we understand that the ball goes inside and…the signal goes off! Not even the replay was able to see!
Oh my God! Oh our football God! We all thought “That’s it!” The game finished 3-3 and finally we did take again an positive result from Germany after 1967 in Tirana! The very bad weather become an strong storm but…who cares? It was a happy moment and could feel it on the air everywhere! Then, all town was under gun fire! Because everybody has a gun and everybody shot in the air being happy…
next day in the morning, I,he,it all of us, watching on Eurosport understood that it was only five minutes dream! Oliver Bierhof score again in 93′ and Germany won 4-3 and we just keep for uorselves the fantastic goal of Igli Tare and the feeling that to scor thre times on Oliver Kahn goalpost it was sutch a very big thing and…we almost did it well in that match!
It was one other unforgeteable mutch between big Germany and little Albania!
Thank you for sharing these memories. Reading your story was sad, funny and exciting.
Honestly, I would like to thank You!
I can’t understand well the dimension of how important is this blog for you, but…when I turn back my head and see my past, our past life in Albania, then yes! I absolutely need the will to say thanks to you!
Until 1990, nobody knows what hapened during the matches of national team out of Albania! Germany was more than a team, it was absolutely our second team to suport! Thing about to be in danger to went in prison only because the people, hide, create antenas to see from any italian or yugoslavian chanel football matches!!! It was not permited to see anything else except to albanian radiotelevision, otherwise…Who coul help my dad, military man and a comunist too, just to see one futboll match!?
Imagine about people coming from other town over than 150 klm with a bicycle and couldn’t find a ticket and to give in a policemans in stadium the hand clock each did cost more than e three months job,just to entry in stadium! Can you imagine yourselves to do that sacrifice only for a 90 minutes game and to turn back again with a bicycle?
Those people came in stadium to see Rumenige,Briegel,Breitner,Kaltz,Schumacher,Litbarski, etc.
At the and…what about womens? It was not a culture to see any women in stadium! May be they didn’t know very much about Rumenige name but they did heard about Hansi Muller, about how handsome he was and wanted to see him from near distance! Of corse, we were not living during…David Beckham times!
I never was in Germany and this is a first site or first first experience to comunicate with germans too. So, I never can know what was wrote and comented in Germany after all those matches in both two countries (before 1990) but sure the people admire to much Gerd Muller,Sepp Mayer,Overath,Netzer,Grabovski all this generations. May be, inside this planet, Albania was so far too, but everybody admires Germany in 1966 and they were heroes in Albania without to don’t even knew that! When they came in Tirana in 1967 and 1971, the stadium, in that time,was half capacity from as it become after, the atendence was the same 27.000-30.000, as in 1981,1983! Normally, it suposted to be only 15.000 spectators inside!
Pardon me if I did coment to much, but it was something who remained hide from the half piece of my life and it become under light now!
“it was something who remained hide from the half piece of my life and it become under light now!”. I’m glad to hear it… sorry, I’m glad to read it! Indeed, your memories have “humanized” this blog. Thank you very much.
Oh how i do remember this match!!!. As arian said was such a strange day. We really thought that we got the positive result. I was a bit pissed that we did not win but a draw was ok i thought. I remember the shot of the AK47 in the air that night. Everybody was so exited…
I hated Bierhoff for some time, (But he helped Ac Milan win the serie A next year so i had to forgive him) but it was crazy night. When I tell my friends in the Netherlands about that match they can not believe that little Albania did that… what a memory..