A 1982 clash revived as France-Germany meet in Cup

(Agencies) Updated: 2014-07-04 16:29

France's national soccer team players (L-R) Patrice Evra, Karim Benzema and Paul Pogba attend a training session at Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro July 3, 2014. France will face Germany in a 2014 World Cup quarterfinal match, July 4, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Germany's national soccer team coach Joachim Loew (C) talks to his players during a training session for the 2014 World Cup at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, July 3, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

RIO DE JANEIRO - When Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer embarked on a series of hair-raising dashes out of his area in the second-round win over Algeria, it would have struck a chord with French football fans of a certain vintage.

Thoughts no doubt returned to one of the most shocking collisions in World Cup history, which occurred in the 1982 semifinal between West Germany and France and involved another goalkeeper's excursion off his line.

Harald Schumacher's airborne challenge on Patrick Battiston, which knocked the France defender unconscious and broke his jaw but went unpunished, still raises anger and emotion in France - particularly as West Germany went on to win that match in a penalty shootout thanks to the saves of Schumacher.

Predictably, the incident has been one of the major talking points ahead of the countries' clash in the World Cup quarterfinals on Friday. It will be their fourth meeting on football's biggest stage, with Germany also winning the most recent head-to-head in 1986 in the semifinals.

"Tomorrow we will write a new page of history," France coach Didier Deschamps said when asked about the hurt of 1982 and '86. "We will try to make it as pleasant as possible."

Under the headline of "A Classic Match," top-selling French sports newspaper L'Equipe used its front page Wednesday to detail the step-by-step process of Schumacher's aerial collision with Battiston.

Clearly, the episode hasn't been forgotten in France but many of country's players weren't even born when that game took place. And they aren't using it as motivation.

"As far as we are concerned, we live in the present," France's 26-year-old goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said. "There is a long history between both nations but we will concentrate on our own match and we want to write our own history."

Germany is playing in the quarterfinals for a ninth straight World Cup and also reached at least the semifinals of the last two European Championships. But there is a growing feeling that a young and dynamic France team can bring down its more experienced opponent.