In this episode, we look back at the Maracanaço – the decisive match of the 1950 World Cup, a match bound up with myths and legends.  Brazil – the host nation and the hot favourites – playing in front of a packed Maracanã Stadium,needed only a draw against Uruguay to lift the Jules Rimet Cup. 

With Europe ravaged by war, Brazil were awarded the hosting rights for 1950. They met the challenge by building the biggest stadium in the world, which they hoped would be the site of their team’s coronation. 

Flavio Costa’s free-scoring team romped through the tournament, winning their first round group, then scoring thirteen goals in the first two games of the final group stage.  The hype reached monumental proportions in the build-up to the decisive match with Uruguay, with Rio in carnival mode, newspapers and politicians declaring Brazil as victors, and fans desperately scrambling to get tickets.  Yet, it wasn’t alright on the night.  Brazil took the lead but thisheightened the team’s sense of panic, not knowing whether to stick or twist.  Uruguay – a fine, underrated team, with several world class players – rallied and scored twice, to dash the cup from Brazil’s lips.  

The result was a seismic shock, plunging the nation into mourning and provoking a long-running fallout, which brought Brazil’s issues of race and inferiority roaring back to the surface, as well as spawning an iconic kit. 

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It’s time to revise and expand on a topic that was covered in the series one episode “The Carnival is Over”.  It’s the summerof 1970 and England are the reigning World Champions.  The Three Lions are one of the most feared and respected sides in world football.  Some of the stalwarts of 1966 – Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, Alan Ball, Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst – are regarded as having improved. Sir Alf Ramsey, England's inscrutable manager, has brought in a clutch of new faces – Keith Newton, Brian Labone, Terry Cooper, Alan Mullery, Francis Lee, Colin Bell. 

England have to cope with the Mexican heat and high altitude. There is also Latin American hostility and conspiracy theories, a hangover from 1966 when England were accused of ‘fixing’ the tournament in favour of European teams and against South American teams. A stopover in Colombia goes disastrously wrong when Bobby Moore is arrested after being accused of stealing a bracelet. 

England start their campaign with a robust match against Romania.  Then comes the epic, iconic match against Brazil.  It is widely assumed that this will be a dress rehearsal for the final.  England conclude their group programme with a dull game against Czechoslovakia.  After that is the quarter-final against West Germany, another memorable epic where Banks misses out due to food poisoning, but England seem to be cruising to victory at 2-0 before it all goes wrong.

Meanwhile back home, Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister, is on the campaign trail, seeking to repeat his own success from 1966 by leading the Labour Party to another general election victory.  After four turbulent years, Labour have move ahead of Edward Heath’s Conservative Party in the opinion polls.  However, the World Cup is preying on Wilson’s mind.  A populist and a keen football fan, Wilson is taken with a “mystical symbiosis” between the government’s fortunes and those of the England team.  He asks his Cabinet colleagues to consider the political ramifications if England were to be knocked out of the World Cup, shortly before polling day.  Wilson's relaxed campaign seems to chime with the public mood.  Labour maintains a consistent lead in the opinion polls, victory seems assured but just four days before the vote, England are knocked out of the World Cup…

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This month, we revisit the epic last 16 match between England and Argentina from France 98.  It was a match layered with history – the ‘Animals’ game from 1966, the Hand of God in 1986, not to mention the Falklands War. 

England, managed by Glenn Hoddle (a veteran of 1986) had already had a campaign full of talking points – Eileen Drewery the faith healer, the axing of Gazza from the final squad, the omission of David Beckham from the Tunisia match, and the belated use of Michael Owen. 

Led by Hoddle and his boundless self-confidence, the Three Lions faced an Argentina side, managed by Daniel Passarella (the winning captain from 1978).  Argentina, with a 100% record and a defence that hadn’t conceded a goal yet in the World Cup, were packed with superstars – Batistuta, Veron, Ortega, Zanetti et al. 

On paper, it was a promising game and it turned out to be an electrifying classic, great goals, great drama, heroic individual performances, an infamous red card followed by an infamous fallout, and, as always with England, a penalty shootout.

National anthems by https://nationalanthems.info/

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This episode reflects on France’s disastrous World Cup defence in 2002. Roger Lemerre’s team arrived in South Korea as World Champions, European Champions, and Confederations Cup holders. They had Zinedine Zidane in peak form, as well as the golden boot winners from three of Europe’s top leagues. Rarely can there have been such a strong favourite to win a World Cup. What followed was a remarkable capitulation, as France went home without even scoring a goal.

French National Anthem from https://nationalanthems.info/

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Scotland’s qualifying campaign for World Cup 98 was ticking along nicely (absent Estonians notwithstanding).  As the campaign reached a climax, Scotland were top of their group and in a good position to reach their first World Cup since 1990.  Off the field, change was coming to Scotland. The election of Tony Blair’s New Labour government in May 1997 meant that Scottish voters had been offered a referendum on devolution and were set to overwhelmingly endorse new devolved institutions.  As a crucial home match with Belarus approached, the only worry for Craig Brown’s team was a few injuries in the squad.  However, the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in the early hours of 31st August 1997, led to an almighty uproar, which seriously damaged the credibility of Scottish international football, provoked interventions from the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Scotland, and nearly derailed Scotland’s World Cup bid.

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We’re back for Series 5 of World Cup Rambling and we begin by checking in on Scotland, so often the tragic clowns of the World Cup circus.  In this episode, we look at the infamous occasion in October 1996 when Scotland faced Estonia in Tallinn.  There was just one problem – Estonia didn’t show up.  The Scots had trained at the venue, the night before the match, and complained about the poor quality of the floodlights.  The kick-off was brought forward and a tense stand-off ensued, as Scotland got ready for the new time whilst Estonia stuck to the original schedule. This meant that Scotland became the “One Team in Tallinn” as they took to the field with the Estonians nowhere to be seen. 

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51 games down, one to go – the World Cup Final. It’s a historic occasion.  Whoever comes out on top – Italy or Brazil – will be the first nation to win the World Cup four times.   Memories of 1970 are evoked but the idea of Brazil’s pragmatic class of ’94 emulating Pelé and co is laughable.  Italy, meanwhile, seem to be running out of players, with Roberto Baggio playing despite carrying a hamstring injury that blunts his effectiveness.  The much-hyped showdown between Romario and Baggio fails to materialise.  The blistering heat is inimical to quality football.  The match turns out to be a dull, disappointing climax to a great tournament.  It finishes goalless and goes to penalties – a tiebreaking method that almost creates a moral panic from journalists and commentators as the greatest competition in the world is reduced to a shootout.

Italian and Brazilian national anthems are from https://nationalanthems.info/

Thanks for your listening support in 2024.

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I’m joined by Jon Spurling, a football author who has been a fixture on my bookshelf over the last two decades. Some of Jon’s books are “All Guns Blazing:  Arsenal in the 80s”, “Top Guns: Arsenal in the 90s”, “Rebels for the Cause: The Alternative History of Arsenal FC”, “Death or Glory: The Dark History of the World Cup” and “Get It On: How the 70s Rocked Football”.

Here we discuss Jon’s latest book, “Go To War: Football on the Brink in the '80s”, which was released on 29th October 2024.  We take an overview of a tumultuous decade in the sport, with a specific focus on England’s World Cup campaigns of 1982 and 1986, as Ron Greenwood leads England on a bumpy road back to the international stage, after the lost decade of the 1970s.  Then, we discuss Bobby Robson’s first major tournament – Mexico 86 – where his England team was stopped by the Hand (and left foot) of God.

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The penultimate episode of the series and we’ve got the semi-finals.  Roberto Baggio produces one of the best

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We’ve reached the quarter-finals of USA 94, a set of games which feature dramatic late twists. It’s The Baggio Show in Boston as Italy beat Spain, with Dino opening the scoring and Roberto grabbing a late winner. Brazil unveil a famous celebration but their march to glory is threatened by a Dutch comeback until Branco (liberated from the subs bench) produces a thunderbolt free-kick. Sweden versus Romania is an intriguing battle between two dark horses, with the game exploding into life late in the second half and going all the way to penalties. However, the tournament’s ultimate shock comes at the Giants Stadium where Germany, the reigning World Champions, are sent packing by a double whammy from Bulgaria.

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