The Soviet Union also won their qualifying group, which included Cyprus, Spain, and Northern Ireland before beating Yugoslavia in the two-legged quarter-finals, and then Hungary in the single-match semi-final.
[5] In the 1970 FIFA World Cup, West Germany lost in the semi-final 4–3 to Italy but won the third-place play-off match 1–0 against Uruguay, who had knocked the Soviet Union out in the quarter-finals.
[10] West Germany then faced Albania at the Wildparkstadion in Karlsruhe on 12 June 1971 where first-half goals from Günter Netzer and Jürgen Grabowski secured a 2–0 win for the hosts.
[14] There, West Germany faced their 1966 FIFA World Cup Final opponents England and the first match of the two-legged tie was played at Wembley Stadium in London on 29 April 1972 in front of 96,800 spectators.
In the 27th minute, Bobby Moore lost possession of the ball, allowing Uli Hoeneß to shoot from around 20 yards (18 m), his strike taking a deflection off Norman Hunter and beating Gordon Banks in the England goal.
With two minutes remaining, Held won the ball from Hughes, passed to Hoeneß who then gave it to Müller whose low shot beat Banks to give West Germany a 3–1 victory.
[19] Helmut Schön, the West Germany manager, described the pitch as "an unplayable stone desert" but despite that, his side took the lead midway through the first half through Müller.
In the 83rd minute, Jean Dockx's pass found Odilon Polleunis who held off Herbert Wimmer and struck the ball into the roof of the West Germany goal.
Late in the match, Belgium's Erwin Vandendaele headed a Raoul Lambert corner wide of goal and the game ended 2–1 to West Germany who qualified for their first European Championship final.
Early goals from Viktor Kolotov and Gennady Yevryuzhikhin gave the Soviet Union a 2–0 lead but Nikos Charalambous reduced the deficit for Cyprus just before half-time.
After the interval, a combination of profligate finishing and numerous saves from the Soviet Union goalkeeper Yevhen Rudakov resulted in the game ending goalless.
[29] Played in warm and sunny conditions, Yugoslavia had the first chance to score but Mladen Ramljak's cross failed to be converted by any of his three teammates in the Soviet Union penalty area.
Banishevskiy doubled his side's advantage in the 74th minute with a shot from inside the box, before Kozynkevych headed into an empty net after Marić had left his goal unattended.
[a] The pitch was saturated and first-half opportunities to score were limited to Sándor Zámbó's shot and an István Kocsis free kick both being saved by Rudakov.
[31] Anatoly Baidachny won a corner and took it himself: the ball was headed cleared by Miklós Páncsics but fell to Anatoliy Konkov whose shot took a deflection off Péter Juhász and ended in the Hungary goal.
Although Hungary had late chances to score, Zámbó's free kick was kept out by Rudakov and Július Szöke struck the rebound into the side netting.
The deadlock was broken in the 27th minute: Franz Beckenbauer ran past two Soviet Union defenders with the ball before passing to Netzer whose dipping shot rebounded off the cross-bar.
[37] Maier then tipped a 30-yard (27 m) strike from Revaz Dzodzuashvili over the West Germany crossbar in a rare opportunity for the Soviet Union, but Rudakov then saved a header from Heynckes before keeping out a Netzer free kick.
[35] In the 52nd minute, Murtaz Khurtsilava lost possession of the ball to Wimmer who, after numerous West Germany passes, struck a left-footed shot past Rudakov to make it 2–0.
[42] The Soviet Union failed to qualify for the finals of the 1974 World Cup when they refused to play the second leg of the UEFA–CONMEBOL play-off match against Chile in Santiago, following the 1973 coup d'état.