This month we’ll look at the opening pair of matches in each group at USA 94.  There was a raft of new laws on tackling, offside and the back pass, which FIFA hoped would liven up the show, after the stodginess of Italia 90.  The gaudy opening ceremony, and Diana Ross’s penalty miss (which foreshadowed the climax of the tournament), fuelled the scepticism about taking the World Cup to a country that knew nothing of soccer but everything of crass hype and empty razzmatazz.  Yet once the actual football got under way, all the fears fell away.  A memorable first set of games saw dark horses Romania stun the much-hyped Colombians, Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland enjoy their finest hour, the rise of new forces from Asia, Nigeria’s Super Eagles swooping down in style, Diego Maradona returning in typically exuberant fashion, and much more.

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Series 4 of World Cup Rambling and it's time to get in the DeLorean and go back thirty years for a mammoth odyssey through USA 94 - a very underrated tournament. We start the series by looking at why football (or "soccer") failed to take a hold in the United States, then having a look at the rise and fall of the North American Soccer League, America's failed bid to host the 1986 World Cup and, ultimately, the successful bid to host the 1994 World Cup, with the pitfalls on the path as the American organisers tried to deliver on the promises they made to FIFA. There will also be the customary whistle-stop tour through the 24 finalists.

Thanks to https://nationalanthems.info for the national anthems.

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A snippet of what you have to look forward to in Series 4 of World Cup Rambling, which starts on 2nd March 2024.

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It's time for something very special.  We have World Cup Rambling’s first-ever guest.  In this episode, I talk to Gary Thacker.  Gary is an author and journalist, who has contributed most prominently to These Football Times, but also to other publications. Gary has written numerous books, including “Beautiful Bridesmaids Dressed in Oranje: The Unfulfilled Glory of Dutch Football”, “Out of the Blue: Chelsea’s Unlikely Champions League Triumph” and “Dutch Masters: When Ajax’s

Here we discuss his upcoming book “O Jogo Bonito – Brazil’s 1970 World Cup Samba Party”, which will be released on 12th February 2024.  The book looks at Brazil’s iconic World Cup triumph in 1970, as they rebuilt from the ashes of 1966 to become the most famous World Cup winners of all-time, with a beautiful style of play that Brazil have never been able to recapture, despite further World Cup wins in 1994 and 2002.

You can find some of Gary’s excellent work at:

https://allbluedaze.com/

https://thesefootballtimes.co/author/allbluedaze/

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In the final episode of series three, we look at one of the strangest tales in World Cup history – the theft of the Jules Rimet Cup from a stamp exhibition in London in 1966. The holy grail of football has a storied history, carried on an ocean liner to the first World Cup in Uruguay, stashed in a shoebox under a bed during World War Two, before being stolen in London and found by a dog in 1966, then stolen again in Rio de Janeiro in 1983.  The story of the London theft resembles an Ealing comedy, a barely believable plot of institutional incompetence, gangland activity, alleged deals, fake names, ransom demands, sting operations, replica trophies, and a heroic dog, all against the backdrop of the UK General Election. 

Thank you for all your listening support in 2023. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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It’s time to dip back into the 1986 World Cup, by looking at the match of the tournament, a mighty, midday clash in the Mexican heat between France and Brazil, two of the most iconic teams of that era.  France, the reigning European Champions, had started their campaign slowly but looked to be steadily finding their form.  Brazil, underrated in comparison to their 1982 predecessors, were still capable of scoring stylish goals.  They had the deadly striker and solid defence that they had been missing four years previously.  When the two teams collided, it was a spectacular match, an epic rollercoaster ride of skill, high drama, tension and controversy, where old heroes were shown to have feet of clay and new heroes stepped forward.

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Graham Taylor took over the England job amidst much optimism, following England’s strong Italia 90 campaign.  The expectation was that England would continue to be a force at major tournaments.

However, the optimism evaporated as Taylor struggled to get to grips with the unique challenge of international football.  He failed to develop a playing identity for the Three Lions (beyond a stale version of his beloved direct football) and struggled to manage the erratic talents of Paul Gascoigne. 

Taylor’s relationship with the media and the fans became increasingly fractious and after a poor European Championship in Sweden, the pressure mounted as England set off to qualify for USA 94.  The qualifying campaign was littered with tactical errors, bizarre selections, key injuries, humbling defeats, strange officiating, not to mention ambiguous syntax (“Can we not knock it?”, “Do I not like that?”). 

Taylor’s composure unravelled, with the whole grisly spectacle being recorded for an unintentionally hilarious fly-on-the-wall documentary. 

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This month we have the final part of the Argentina 78 retrospective.  The format of the competition – a second group stage, with the winners of the two groups reaching the final – is already under scrutiny and this will intensify as this second batch of groups conclude. 

In Group A, the Netherlands finally find their form, to reach the final at the expense of Italy, who are unable to build on their excellent first round.  Meanwhile, West Germany, unable to find a win, surrender their crown, with Austria gleefully knocking the final nail in the coffin of their mighty neighbours. 

However, it’s Group B that provides us with the major controversies, as the group climaxes with Argentina thrashing Peru 6-0 to reach the final, at the expense of an embittered Brazil.  Were the Peruvians bribed?  Did they merely capitulate in the face of the hostile Argentinian crowd?  What role, if any, did South American politics play? What went down in the Peruvian dressing room when Henry Kissinger and General Videla popped in for a visit?  Will we ever know the truth?

Then we have the World Cup Final, when Argentina resort to underhand tactics to try and undermine the Dutch.  However, the key to the final is Mario Kempes, who flourishes on the biggest stage of all.

Thanks to https://nationalanthems.info/ for the Argentinian national anthem.

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We’re back with part 2 of the Argentina 78 retrospective.  This episode will focus on the first group stage.  We have Argentina playing under the weight of domestic expectations, accompanied by a stench of dodgy refereeing.  We also have the relative decline of West Germany, Brazil and Holland, the unexpectedly strong performances of Tunisia, Austria and Peru, the resurgence of Italy. There’s also the small matter of Scotland’s craziest campaign ever, as hubris crashes into reality, Willie Johnston falls foul of the drug testers, anger spills out from the terraces…then Archie Gemmill scores a wonder goal. It's not just the players who capture the attention, with the pedantic time-keeping of Welsh referee Clive Thomas and the unravelling of Scotland's manager Ally MacLeod providing headlines during the opening phase of Mundial 78.

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This month sees the return of the World Cup retrospective, with the focus being on the 1978 tournament in Argentina, arguably the most controversial World Cup in history.  In 1966, Argentina were awarded the rights to host the 1978 World Cup – an honour that was long overdue for one of football’s leading nations. However, the deteriorating political, security and economic situation in the twilight years of Peronism, cast doubt over whether Argentina would be able to host the tournament.  The military coup of 1976 ushered in a repressive regime, that was determined to crush all opposition and use the World Cup to promote the Argentinian “brand”. However, as the World Cup grew closer, alarm bells rang across Europe about the competition being hosted in a despotic country.  Those controversies will be looked at in this episode, as well having a run-down of the 16 finalists.

Thanks to https://nationalanthems.info/ for the national anthems.

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