World Cup Analysis

Mike Martin recalls the World Cup in Spain when Brazil overtook Holland as the ‘Best Team That Didn’t Win The World Cup.’

So was it a great World Cup, or one to forget? It probably depends who you ask. The Italians look back fondly, Brazilians wistfully and the French, English and Spanish with despair and disappointment.

FIFA, for a change, decided to tamper with the World Cup format, creating an almost universally unpopular second round in which twelve teams would compete in groups of three, with only the group winners progressing to the semi finals. It was the first 24-team World Cup, an expansion urgently needed as the phenomenon that was and is televized football swept the world, exporting the beatiful game to countries with an as-yet untapped potential. Cameroon, Algeria, Kuwait, New Zealand and Honduras turned up to the party for the first - and in the case of the last three, only - time.

Holland had waned quickly after their two finals in the seventies and failed to qualify, but there were few other big name absentees. Sweden and Mexico were as high-profile as the non-qualifiers got, with Portugal not yet considered to be a top level side. The first group stage would be simple and enjoyable enough, even if the Spanish FA made a balls-up of the draw.

Eventually, holders Argentina found themselves in what should have been a straightforward group with Belgium, Hungary and El Salvador. It wasn’t. They froze in the opening game, as has been the wont of holders and hosts in major tournaments for many a year. Belgium won 1-0, before El Salvador capitulated against Hulgary in Elche, losing by a record 10-1 scoreling, with Laszlo Kiss becoming the first hat-trick scoring World Cup substitute. Argentina improved, with Belgium’s late equalizer against Hungary winning them the group after they had been going out on goal difference.

England started well, with Bryan Robson’s 27-second goal setting up a 3-1 win over France in Bilbao. Unspectacular but comfortable wins over Czechoslovakia (2-0) and Kuwait (1-0) followed, but whereas England had peaked early, France grew into the tournament as it progressed, a strategy that served another Mediterranean country wearing blue well in the final analysis. Their 4-1 win over Kuwait in Valladolid became memorable for a dreadful piece of gamesmanship by Kuwait and some even worse refereeing.

With the score at 3-1, Alain Giresse scored a perfectly good goal, but the Kuwaitis started to sulk, claiming they had stopped because they heard a whistle. There had been no whistle to hear, but this did not dissuade general manager Sheikh Fahd Al-Sabah storming down to call his players off the pitch. Shamefully, the Soviet referee Miroslav Stupar caved in and disallowed the goal. Loud protests now came from the French, whose coach Michel Hidalgo was ordered from the touchlines for probably the most justified example of remonstration with a referee of the whole tournament.

In Group A, Italy were awful. Uninspired, shot-shy and woefully inefficient, they drew all three games; 0-0 with a superior Poland, 1-1 against Peru and Cameroon. They were unable to build on or defend their narrow leads and observers almost unanimously agreed they would be pulverized by Argentina and Brazil in the next round. And they know who they were. Poland’s blistering thrashing of Peru - a 5-1 win with all the goals in the second half - saw them top the group.

Scotland started well, beating New Zealand 5-2, but upset the superb Brazilians by taking the lead with a brilliant goal from defender David Narey. Brazil had already produced a late comeback to beat the Soviet Union 2-1 with two magical goals from Sócrates and Éder. Annoyed at trailing again, Zico curled in a free-kick before Oscar, Éder and Falcão saw the job done properly in the second half; Brazil won 4-1. With Brazil routing New Zealand 4-0, Scotland had to beat the Soviet Union or go out on goal difference. Leading at half-time in Málaga with a Joe Jordan goal, Scotland collapsed. Defensive errors gave the Soviets two goals and, despite a late equalizer from Graeme Souness, Scotland again fell at the first hurdle.

A scandal in Group B; West Germany, humbled in their first match by a 2-1 defeat to Algeria, needed a favour in their last match against their ‘rivals’ Austria. Algeria had already played and won against Chile, so the two European teams knew that only a 1-0 or 2-0 win for Germany would see them both through at the north Africans’ expense. Horst Hrubesch scored after ten minutes and then… nothing. One German television commentator even refused to say anything for about ten minutes. A more blatant fix there has never been, but typically FIFA bottled it. There was no doubt the fans had been defrauded, they said, but Algeria, easily the most watchable team in the group, would have to lump it. Some Algerian fans attended the game and waved banknotes through the fence in disgust.

For the record, nobody has ever rationally argued that the score was agreed beforehand, but it hardly matters. The game was not competitive for eighty minutes and Algeria were cheated out of the tournament by two teams who had nothing but the gift of knowing the score of the other game before they kicked off; FIFA’s ruling that both final matches in each World Cup group be played at the same time was decades too late. Calls for the teams to be thrown out might have been slightly exaggerated - Chile certainly didn’t deserve to go through at either European side’s expense - but there were no sanctions at all from the spineless organizing body. What with this and Toni Schumacher’s foul on Patrice Battiston, Italy’s win in the final was a popular one.

So what of the hosts? Well, Spain, apart from a European Championship success on home soil in 1964, had a history of underachievement on the big stage that they would do little to change in 1982. In their opening match in Valencia against minnows Honduras, they were a goal down inside eight minutes and only saved a point with a second half penalty. Their captain and goalkeeper Luis Arkonada was world class, but their forwards, Juanito and Jesús Satrústegui, were lightweight and ineffective. They were whistled off at the final whistle.

They were better, but still fortunate, in beating Yugoslavia. Again going behind early, a penalty was wrongly given to them for a foul outside the area by Velimir Zajec on Miguel Alonso. Enrique Saura’s second half winner was one of only two goals they scored that weren’t penalties and it was their only win in five games. Northern Ireland, who had to beat them to stay in the tournament, won 1-0 in the Estadio Mestalla and finished with ten men. Gerry Armstrong’s famous winning goal came from a goalkeeping error; even Spain’s better players were losing it in the pressure cooker in Valencia.

Their second round was little better. West Germany beat them 2-1 and a goalless draw with England flattered them as Ron Greenwood’s side dominated the match. West Germany, who had also drawn 0-0 with England, progressed. France saw off Austria Northern Ireland with two wins; 1-0 and 4-1 respectively. Northern Ireland acquitted themselves well, with a credible draw with Austria to follow up their points against Yugoslavia and a surprisingly capable Honduras.

In the second Group A, Poland found themselves a hero. Zbigniew Boniek, poor in their first two goalless games against Italy and Cameroon, had been moved from midfield to up front for the Peru match to immediate and sensational effect. Against Belgium in their first match of the second stage, he was outstanding, scoring a hat-trick in a 3-0 win. The Soviet Union could only win 1-0 against Belgium, so the goalless draw in the final game was enough to take the Poles to the semi finals for the second time in eight years.

But it was Group C that provided the outstanding quality and drama. In a bad-tempered opener, unfancied Italy beat holders Argentina in the Estadio Sarriá, then the home of Espanyol de Barcelona. Italy had a seige mentality, not talking to their own press. The match was brutal and often uncultured, but only in the last six minutes was a player sent off and there was some quality in the two Italian goals. Ossie Ardiles ended the match with a torn shirt, whilst Maradona, to the surprise of many and to his credit, remained calm despite being kept quiet by the bullying tactics of the ‘rugged’ (translation: dirty) Claudio Gentile.

Brazil knocked Argentina out, to their delight, with a magnificent performance. Even their largely unspectacular centre forward Serginho scored with a header from a fine team move. Their third goal saw a defender, Júnior, race forward from the back to pass the ball past Ubaldo Fillol in the Argentina goal. Maradona returned to form by being sent off for a foul on João Batista and it became clear why some suggested that Argentina’s success in 1978 owed more than a little to being the host nation; they were not missed by the time the semi finals came around. Paolo Rossi’s hat-trick saw off Brazil in one of the World Cup’s best ever matches, despite Brazil’s continued excellent technique and fluid passing. Sócrates and Falcão equalized his first two, but with Italy having to win to reach the last four, Rossi turned in a Tardelli shot and the best team in the world were out. Brazil were in 1982 what Holland had been in the seventies.

Rossi scored two more to see off Poland in the Nou Camp, but the real semi final drama came in Seville as West Germany beat France in the first World Cup penalty shoot out. 1-1 after ninety minutes, France stormed into a 3-1 lead, only to be pegged back by goals from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Klaus Fischer. Schumacher’s assault on Battiston was disgracefully ignored by Israeli referee Avraham Klein, meaning the France v Kuwait farce was only the second worst piece of refereeing in the tournament.

The final, when it came, was entertaining enough, but the Germans never turned up. Italy could even afford Antonio Cabrini’s missed penalty in the first half, before Rossi, Tardelli and Alessandro Altobelli’s goals after the break sealed Italy’s success. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge wasn’t fit, left back Hans-Peter Briegel had a nightmare, Gentile marked Pierre Littbarski out of the game and Paul Breitner hardly acknowledged his late consolation goal. For the unpopular Germans, it was a hellish final. Tardelli’s celebrated his fine goal with a hypnotic fist-pumping run and dive routine, would be replayed in slow motion for decades to come. The first round showed Italy were not remotely the best team in the world, but their wins over Argentina, Brazil, Poland and West Germany meant few could begrudge them the trophy.

Tags: Germany, Italy

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