World Cup Rambling

"Not so much a football match as an international incident," was how legendary sports write Hugh McIlvanney described the 1966 World Cup quarter-final between England and Argentina.  England came into the match after a series of solid but unspectacular performances in the group stages - par for the course for an England team.  Argentina were in an incendiary mood after some robust displays which had led to a FIFA warning.  This warning, combined with the referee-selection process and the so-called "European" style of officiating, stoked a mood of paranoia ahead of the clash with England.  When the match came, there was a massive combustion, with Antonio Rattin (Argentina's captain) and Rudolf Kreitlein (the German referee) at the centre of the drama.  The fallout from the Wembley quarter-final would echo down the years.

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Chile feels a burning sense of national pride as World Cup hosts, having suffered a traumatising earthquake in 1960, before losing their key organiser in the weeks leading up to the 1962 tournament. However, some Italian journalists have been disparaging about the host country. This leaves the Italian team in a difficult situation when they face Chile in the group stage. What follows is one of the World Cup’s most notorious matches – described by the BBC’s David Coleman as “the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football possibly in the history of the game”.

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After a mammoth 48 group matches, dragged out over two stages, the 1982 World Cup finally remembers that it’s supposed to be a knockout competition. A resurgent Italy, with Paolo Rossi having found his shooting boots, sweep past Poland. Then in Seville, there’s a night of intense drama as France meet West Germany. It’s billed as a clash between artists and artisans. The match swings one way and then the other, featuring spectacular goals, a blood-curdling foul, and the first ever World Cup penalty shoot-out. The French are left beaten and broken (literally) and have to settle for fourth place after losing to Poland. With Rossi having hit form and Italy’s confidence surging, even West Germany can’t stop the Azzurri from claiming a third World Cup.  There's also a diatribe in there about World Cup expansion. 

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The first group stage is over, but the unusual format of this competition means it’s time for another group stage. Poland reach the semi-finals for the second time in three tournaments, after shutting out the Soviet Union – a popular result. Elsewhere, the French find their form, ending Northern Ireland’s dream in the process. England, with goals in short supply, scramble Kevin Keegan and Trevor Brooking into action, in a futile attempt to leapfrog West Germany in the race for a semi-final spot. Yet the highlight of this round is a mind-boggling Group of Death – featuring Argentina, Brazil, and Italy. Maradona is the victim of a clinically efficient marking job from the terrifying Gentile. Brazil, with another collection of fine goals, end Argentina’s reign as world champions. Then comes an epic showdown between Italy and Brazil, where Paolo Rossi’s sudden resurgence leaves the football romantics in tears.

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Here is the long-anticipated (yeah right) start of series two. We’re going back in time to the 1982 World Cup. Joao Havelange’s conception of the ‘biggest World Cup ever’ came to fruition, as the 24-team extravaganza rolled into Spain, a country that was facing the first global test of its new democratic era. Things didn’t start too well, with an error-strewn draw ceremony and scepticism from the press, both inside and outside of Spain, about the country’s capacity to host the tournament. The action from the first group stage will be looked at – Italy’s early struggles, the sneaky shenanigans of West Germany and Austria, Northern Ireland’s finest hour, England’s dramatic start, the frustrated promise of Algeria and Cameron, the splendour of Brazil, Hungary’s record-breaking performance, fatal Scottish calamities, and much, much more.

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A tantalising snippet of what you have to look forward to in the second series of World Cup Rambling, which is due to start on Friday 4th February 2022.

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Time to provide you all with some much-needed Christmas cheer.  This episode is a snappy look back at the 2014 World Cup, through an article that I wrote at the time.

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Deep political shadows lay across the 1974 World Cup. This was epitomised by the Group 1 meeting between West Germany, the hosts, and their brothers from over the border, East Germany. The stage was set for a tense encounter in Hamburg, which was riven with plots and subplots. West vs East, capitalism vs communism, liberty vs authoritarianism. For Helmut Schön, manager of the West Germany, there was a lot at stake personally – he was born on what had become the East side of the border. Things hadn’t been running smoothly for West Germany, with rows over money and disappointing performances on the pitch. As for East Germany, the players were keen to test themselves against the West, whilst their political leaders saw the match as a golden opportunity to show the world the superiority of their “system”. 

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With one game remaining, Brazil and Chile were level on points in their qualifying group. Brazil had a superior goal difference, which meant they required just a draw to reach the 1990 World Cup. Chile needed a win, but Brazil hadn’t lost a competitive match on home soil since 1975. The Maracanã Stadium was packed to the rafters with Brazilian fans, who expected their team to extend their 100% record of qualifying for World Cups. What followed was one of the most outrageous acts of cheating in World Cup history, one which would have serious consequences for the perpetrators. This match would also spawn an unlikely celebrity, as well having a possible connection to an aviation tragedy several hundred miles away.

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A tribute to the late great Gerd "Der Bomber" Müller, who died on 15th August 2021, at the age of 75.  Here, I reflect on the goals that Müller scored at World Cups, the 10 at Mexico 70 (which put him in an exclusive club of players who hit double figures at a single World Cup), then the four he added on home soil in 1974, which set a record of 14 which stood for 32 years.  Has there ever been a deadlier World Cup striker than Gerd Müller?  

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