Germany Still Alive, Kicking : Soccer: West Germans set up rematch of 1986 championship game against Argentina with shootout victory over England.

As Argentina had 24 hours before, West Germany earned its place Wednesday night in the World Cup championship game by surviving soccer’s version of Russian roulette.

Failing to subdue their semifinal opponent in 120 minutes of play--90 in regulation, 30 in overtime--both finalists were the fortunate victors in dramatic games of penalty kicks designed to provide a result when all else fails.

But while Argentina celebrated long into the Neapolitan night after upsetting the supposedly indomitable host, Italy, the favored West Germans simply were relieved to dispose of overachieving England.

For at least one long night before a crowd of 62,628 at Stadio Delle Alpi, the English proved equal to the West Germans. Not only was the score tied, 1-1, at the end of regulation, both teams were frustrated in the overtime by scoring opportunities that hit the goal post.

In the shootout, however, England’s luck went from bad to worse. Luck must be the appropriate word for penalty kicks because both coaches, West Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and England’s Bobby Robson, used it to describe the game’s outcome.

With players from each side firing alternating shots from 12 yards out at the beleaguered goalkeepers, Peter Shilton for England and Bodo Illgner for West Germany, both teams converted their first three.

Then England’s Stuart Pearce, a penalty-kick specialist for his Nottingham Forest club team, kicked one toward the left corner of the net that Illgner dived into, stopping it short of the goal.

West Germany’s Olaf Thon followed with a successful shot, which turned out to be the winner when England’s final attempt by Chris Waddle sailed high over the goal.

England’s players said afterward they did not feel like losers, although it is they and not the West Germans who will be forced to play a consolation game against Italy Saturday in Bari.

“It’s weird,” English midfielder David Platt said. “It’s a horrible way to go out. But in some ways it’s the best way to go out. If you go out with a loss, you deserve it. But we drew the game and just didn’t get the luck.”

Both coaches seem to feel it was a shame the game came down to that. Until then, it was an artful game played by two skilled and determined teams.

“It was a good advertisement for football,” Beckenbauer said.

But it is his team, the 1986 runner-up, that will play in Rome Sunday against defending champion Argentina in the 52nd and final game of the monthlong tournament. In 14 World Cups since 1930, it will be the first rematch for the championship.

It is hardly a surprise to find the West Germans in Rome. All roads in the World Cup seem to lead to the finals for the West Germans, who will be playing in their sixth championship game since 1954, their fourth in the last five tournaments and their third in a row.

The Argentines are hardly novices in championship games, having reached three of the past four. Both West Germany and Argentina are seeking to join Italy and Brazil as three-time champions.

But Beckenbauer would not except a journalist’s suggestion in the postgame press conference that West Germany and Argentina are soccer’s dominant powers. He said that Italy, Brazil, the Netherlands and England also should be considered.

Playing in their first semifinal since 1966, the English would not necessarily have belonged on that list before this tournament. But they re-established themselves here with a brand of soccer that, while not particularly attractive, was effective.

“We were criticized for our football,” Robson said. “People said we were old-fashioned and had no imagination. I hope that piffle has kicked the bucket.”

The English won only one game in the regulation 90 minutes. But neither did any of their six opponents beat them without the benefit of penalty kicks.

Robson also praised his players for their spirit, exhibited through late heroics after some teams would have quit. They beat Belgium, 1-0, in the second round with a goal in the final minutes of overtime, tied Cameroon, 2-2, with a goal in the 84th minute that led to an overtime victory and then rallied to tie West Germany with a goal in the 80th minute Wednesday.

The West Germans, accustomed to being the aggressors, hardly looked like themselves in the first half. Perhaps it was the green jerseys they wore because England was in its traditional white. More likely, it was because of the loss in the 38th minute of striker Rudi Voeller, who went out with a calf injury and is questionable for the final.

But they came out attacking in the second half. That paid off in the 59th minute after Pearce fouled midfielder Thomas Haessler just outside the penalty area.

Klaus Augenthaler pushed the ensuing free kick to Andreas Brehme, who tried to line a shot over the defensive wall. The ball hit English defender Paul Parker’s backside and sailed over Shilton’s outstretched hands and into the net.

That seemed to sap the life out of the English, although their small but boisterous following of about 10,000 fans tried to revive them by singing the national anthem, “God Save the Queen.”

But just as it seemed the English had breathed their last, Parker lofted a pass into the penalty area that defender Juergen Kohler misplayed. Forward Gary Lineker found the ball at his feet, maneuvered around Augenthaler and then beat Illgner with a left-footed shot into the right corner.

West German forward Juergen Klinsmann, who seemed lost for much of the match without his running mate, Voeller, had two chances to score early in the first overtime.

But the best chance in that period belonged to England’s Waddle, who knocked a shot into the right post. In the second overtime, West Germany’s Guido Buchwald hit a post.

Post for post, tit for tat. That was the way the game went until the penalty kicks, when West Germany gratefully emerged with a victory.

Beckenbauer said it was his team’s best game, although the West Germans did not appear as overwhelming as they had been in fashioning a 5-0-1 record while scoring a tournament-leading 13 goals. Instead of blaming his team for that, Beckenbauer credited the English.

So did Robson.

“We graced a World Cup semifinal,” he said. “This team actually graced a World Cup semifinal.”