00:03Most goalkeepers don't start out as natural stoppers.
00:06They have their dreams of scoring match-winning goals too.
00:10But in the cruel world of children's street football,
00:13sometimes it just doesn't work out that way.
00:17In the words of German goalkeeping legend Sepp Meyer,
00:20a player's destiny can be decided on physique.
00:24You're the laziest, you're the fattest.
00:26You go in goal.
00:29That's how Meyer found his way to the net,
00:32growing up in the Bavarian city of Anxingh.
00:35But any concerns about his physique and fitness were soon dispelled,
00:39as his speed and reflexes earned him the nickname
00:42the cat from Anxingh.
00:46And the cat became one of the greatest his country has seen.
00:53Meyer was a one-team player and well rewarded for it.
00:58He won three straight Bundesliga titles and three consecutive European Cups
01:03with Bayern Munich in the 1970s after joining the club as a 15-year-old.
01:10But it was with his beloved West Germany in 1974 that his reputation soared.
01:17With Meyer and Bayern teammates of the calibre of Franz Beckenbauer,
01:21Gerd Müller, Paul Breitner and Uli Hoeneß,
01:24Germany were a well-oiled machine.
01:27While the big-named outfielders earned the plaudits,
01:31Meyer went about his business,
01:32keeping four clean sheets in the lead-up to the final against the Netherlands.
01:38It was a masterful display from the shot-stopper,
01:41and the West Germans rode the wave of momentum on home soil
01:44to defeat an imposing Johan Cruyff-led Dutch side in the decider.
01:51Meyer couldn't save an early penalty, but the Germans still won 2-1.
01:57Beckenbauer said in the aftermath,
02:00without Sepp, we would never have won the World Cup.
02:05A glorious career was cut short after a car accident in 1979.
02:12Not before Meyer had the privilege of captaining his country.
02:22But this loyal servant couldn't be kept away.
02:25He was Germany's goalkeeping coach for 16 years,
02:29helping nurture Oliver Kahn,
02:31while also assisting at Bayern Munich in the same capacity.
02:36Selfless, loved and loyal.
02:39A pillar for West Germany's success on football's greatest stage.
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