World Cup 1982 - Day Seventeen

DAY SEVENTEEN

Friday 2^nd July 1982

GROUP C, Estadio Sarria, Barcelona. (17:15)

BRAZIL   (1)   3   (Zico 12, Serginho 67, Junior 75)

ARGENTINA   (0)   1   (Diaz 89)

Brazil: Waldir; Leandro (Edevaldo), Luizinho, Oscar, Junior; Socrates, Cerezo, Falcao, Eder; Zico (Batista), Serginho

Argentina: Fillol; Olguin, Passarella, Barbas, Tarantini, Galvan; Bertoni (Santamaria), Ardiles, Calderon, Maradona; Kempes (Diaz)

Italy had beaten Argentina and this was becoming a frustrating tournament for the 1978 winners.  Beaten in their opening game, they had got passed Hungary and El Salvador to reach this stage, but with their minds on events back home they looked an ageing side which even the great Diego Maradona couldn’t motivate enough.  Brazil were playing some champagne football, and some of the best football seen in any World Cup.  They were confident of beating their arch rivals and then taking on Italy. 

Argentinian defender Juan Barbas, one of the few members of the squad new from 1978, arrived late to force Waldir Peres into a smart save from a header.  But then in the 12^th minute Brazil had a free-kick about 30 yards out.  Eder ran up and fired a left-foot shot against the underside of the bar and as it bounced down, Zico reacted far quicker than the Argentines and bundled the ball over the line for the opening goal.  Eder’s shot was hit with the outside of his left foot and bent and curled, with Fillol doing well to get a hand on it to knock it onto the bar but he was let down by his defence as no one rushed back with Zico or Serginho to stop Zico getting to the ball first.

Falcao then fired just over after taking down a pass from Leandro with consummate ease.  After Zico did the same, Falcao again shot over after a lovely move on the edge of the Argentinian area.  Brazil still lead at half-time thanks to Zico’s goal and as the second half wore on, Maradona became increasingly frustrated with the treatment handed out to him by the Brazilians.  He has good shout for a penalty when Cerezo brought him down on the right-hand edge of the area, but the ref was having none of it.  Cerezo had a fierce drive from a free-kick just tipped over as many of the shots were coming from outside either penalty area.   Brazil eventually had their reward in the 67^th minute after Passarella was dispossessed in midfield.  Eder played it inside to Zico, who in turn found Falcao with space on the right.  His cross to the far post was headed in by Serginho.  Often seen as the weak link in this vastly attractive attacking side, Serginho was a prolific goalscorer at domestic level but received much criticism during this tournament for missing too many chances.

Brazil looked to have killed off Argentina, although Maradona showed some lovely skill to create a chance for Diaz, who put it wide.  But almost immediately, Brazil put together another fantastic move as they toyed with their opponents.  Junior ran forward from the back, played a one-two with Zico and ran on to slide the ball past Fillol.  It was a lovely exhibition of football and the most attacking full-back in the game earned a deserved goal.  Passarella tried to single-handedly pull his team back into it with a couple of chances but Brazil were in complete control.  Maradona chipped just over and then minutes later his World Cup was over in ignominious circumstances.  Soon to be a Barcelona player, he left the pitch to a chorus of derision.  As the ball bounced around in midfield, Maradona was far too high and late with a kick on Batista which landed on the Brazilian’s thigh.  He received a straight red card and it summed up Argentina’s tournament.  Diaz did get a goal back with a fine strike from the edge of the area but the champions were well beaten.

Brazil now had a goal advantage over Italy, so a draw on Monday would be enough to see them reach the Semi-Finals.

GROUP B, Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid. (21:00)

SPAIN   (0)   1   (Zamora 81)

WEST GERMANY   (0)   2   (Littbarski 50, Fischer 75) 

Spain: Arconada; Camacho, Alexanco, Tendillo, Gordillo; Alonso, Urquiaga, Zamora; Juanito (Lopez-Ufarte), Santillana, Quini (Sanchez)

West Germany: Schumacher; Kaltz, K-H Forster, B. Forster, Stielike, Briegel; Littbarski, Breitner, Dremmler; Fischer, Rummenigge (Reinders)

In England’s group, West Germany had played out a cagey 0-0 draw with England in the first match.  This gave them a great chance of going through if they could beat the hosts.  Spain had struggled to get through their group, losing to Northern Ireland.  The home crowd was nervous yet desperate for success, knowing themselves that a win in this game would leave them only needing to avoid defeat against England, to progress.

The first half again was cagey and then 5 minutes into the second half, Dremmler’s shot from outside the area was too hot for Arconada to handle and as it rolled clear of the Spanish keeper, Pierre Littbarski was on hand to turn it in.  The Germans were now able to exert some pressure on the game, with them holding many aces in the group.  They should’ve added to their tally after good work down the left from Fischer saw him rob Tendillo but the eventual shot from Briegel too high.  Spanish centre-back, Alexanco, had a couple of efforts which may have promised more.  One, a header from a free-kick which bounced straight at Schumacher, and then he fired wide with a shot from long range.  But with 15 minutes to go, West Germany played their final card and it would prove decisive.  Breitner, ever industrious in midfield, played a good ball into Littbarski, who’d run ahead of the defence into the area, and as Arconada came out, the German turned 180 degrees and played in Fischer.  Klaus Fischer then had the simple challenge of walking the ball into the net for a 2-0 lead and that was effectively game over.  It was a sucker punch for the home side, who had been enjoying a fairly good period, but after only playing one match in the Second Phase, they were out.

With a minute to go, a cross from Sanchez on the right was headed in at the far post by Jesus Zamora to give the Spaniards a glimmer of hope.  They’d left it too late and the hosts had been eliminated.

England looked on anxiously as they would now need to win by 2 goals to go through.

World Cup 1982 - Day Fifteen

DAY FIFTEEN

Tuesday 29^th June 1982

GROUP C, Estadio Sarria, Barcelona. (17:15)

ITALY   (2)   2   (Tardelli 55, Cabrini 67)

ARGENTINA   (0)   1   (Passarella 83)

Italy: Zoff; Gentile, Scirea, Collovati, Cabrini; Tardelli, Oriali (Marini), Antognoni; Conti, Rossi (Altobelli), Graziani

Argentina: Fillol; Olguin, Passarella, Tarantini, Galvan; Bertoni, Ardiles, Gallego, Maradona; Diaz (Calderon), Kempes (Valencia)

This was a feisty, spiteful encounter.  Neither side had impressed anyone thus far and with Brazil also in their group, all the neutrals wanted both teams to go home.  Italy had only managed to get through their group on ‘goals scored’ as they just about got the better of Cameroon, and Argentina had been beaten by Belgium and struggled to beat El Salvador. 

There were no goals in the first half but there were 5 yellow cards as both side preferred to try and kick lumps out of each other.  ‘Henchman generali’, Claudio Gentile had the job of man-marking Diego Maradona and was particularly thorough in his work, in a way the Corleones would be proud of.  Afterwards, Maradona joked the Italian ‘followed me everywhere, and when I went to the toilet, he followed me there too!”.  Marco Tardelli went close at the start of the second half with a fierce right foot drive from about 35 yards out, which Fillol did well to tip over.  Oriali then tried from a similar distance but his shot went just wide.  The Italians were full of running now, and soon Conti lead a counter-attack when he was overtaken by Tardelli.  He played the ball to Antognoni who waited for Tardelli to keep on running, then played him in on the left of the area and his low shot across Fillol went in at the far corner. 

Argentina had had to deal with the shock during this tournament of discovering the Falklands War was not going as well as they’d been lead to believe at home, yet they came back strongly with Passarella going close with a free-kick and then Maradona hitting the bar from another dead-ball opportunity.  Passarella then headed against the bar when he rose highest at the far post and Italy were up against it.  As they desperately came out of defence, they found space behind the defence and Graziani played Rossi in but once in the area he shot straight at Fillol.  The ball bounced off the Argentinian keeper’s chest and Conti picked it up and got to the bye-line with Fillol inexplicably trying to tackle him.  He played the ball back where Cabrini fired into the net Fillol was supposed to be protecting.  It was despair for Argentina who for 15 minutes had played their best football of the tournament, yet been mugged with a quick breakaway.  Passarella got a goal back with a stunning free-kick, but it was cold comfort and now Italy would face the prospect of going through if they could beat Brazil.  For Argentina they ended the match with 10 men as Gallego was sent off almost immediately after the re-start from Passarella’s goal.

GROUP B, Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid. (21:00)

ENGLAND   (0)   0

WEST GERMANY   (0)   0 

England: Shilton; Mills, Thompson, Butcher, Sansom; Coppell, Robson, Wilkins, Rix; Francis (Woodcock), Mariner

West Germany: Schumacher; Kaltz, K-H Forster, B. Forster, Stielike, Briegel; Muller (Fischer), Breitner, Dremmler; Reinders (Littbarski), Rummenigge

This game represented a lot of what was wrong with this format for the second phase.  West Germany, having cynically worked their way through the group stage, had worked out the way to play this stage was to be as defensive as possible and not concede.  Unfortunately for England they were still without Keegan or Brooking and Mariner and Francis were just not good enough at this level to breach a determined defence.   The Germans had gambled on the weakest nation in the group being Spain, and so as long as they could get a draw against England they could beat Spain and put the pressure back on the English to beat their result.  Coppell, Wilkins and Robson all forced Schumacher into making saves, with the latter going closest.

As the game was reaching a close, Rummenigge caused concern in England’s camp when he hit the bar, but that was as close as we got to a goal.  The locals weren’t particularly impressed with what they’d seen and so West Germany knew they had to play the next game against Spain, knowing anything other than a win may not be enough for them.

World Cup 1982 - Day Eleven

DAY ELEVEN

Wednesday 23^rd June 1982

GROUP ONE, Estadio Balaidos, Vigo. (17:15)

ITALY   (0)   1   (Graziani 60)

CAMEROON   (0)   1   (M’Bida 61)

Italy: Zoff; Gentile, Scirea, Collovati, Cabrini; Conti, Tardelli, Oriali, Antognoni; Rossi, Graziani

Cameroon: N’Kono; Kaham, Onana, M’Bom, Aoudou, N’Djeya; Kunde, M’Bida, Abega; Milla, Tokoto

The final game in Group One was finely balanced.  In theory, Italy should’ve thumped Cameroon, but this Italy side had not found their touch in this World Cup up to now and had struggled in both their matches.  Cameroon knew they needed to win to get through to the second phase, and for Italy a draw would be enough to go through with Poland from this group.  Italy’s abject performance in the group phase so far was illustrated by Bruno Conti putting his shot wide from 6 yards out with only the keeper to beat.  Italy created plenty of chances, they just weren’t able to get any of them on target.  Then on the hour, Paolo Rossi crossed right-footed from the left wing and Graziani got up highest to loop his header over N’Kono.  It was the first goal Cameroon had conceded in the competition so far, but they fought back immediately as M’Bida hooked a shot in from close range barely a minute after going behind.  The Africans just couldn’t push for a winner and so Italy went through by virtue of having scored one more goal than Cameroon.  For Cameroon, they could be proud of their performance in remaining unbeaten.

GROUP THREE, Estadio Jose Rico Perez, Alicante. (21:00)

ARGENTINA   (1)   2   (Passarella 23, Bertoni 52)

EL SALVADOR   (0)   0

Argentina: Fillol; Olguin, Passarella, Tarantini, Galvan; Bertoni (Diaz), Gallego, Ardiles, Calderon (Santamaria), Maradona; Kempes

El Salvador: Mora; Jovel, Osorto (Diaz), Rodriguez, Recinos; Ventura (Alfaro), Rugamas, Huezo; Gonzalez, Rivas, Ramirez

With Belgium and Hungary drawing in Elche the day before, Argentina knew anything other than a win would see them bow out after just three matches of their first ever defence of the World Cup.  El Salvador had regained some pride by only losing 0-1 to Belgium having conceded 10 in their opening match, although this was the game they really feared.  But Argentina were still not into their stride in this tournament, evidenced by Kempes hitting the bar from 6 yards early on.  In the 19^th minute, Calderon was brought down in the box and Argentina had a penalty.  The contact had seemed minimal but Passarella blasted the kick down the middle and Argentina lead 1-0. 

Argentina should’ve added to that goal before the break but early into the second half they did when a well worked goal when Daniel Bertoni curled a lovely shot left-footed into the far corner having beaten three tackles.  Argentina were comfortable winners and went through in 2^nd place behind Belgium.  Hungary’s record score proving irrelevant.

GROUP SIX, Estadio Benito Villamarin, Seville. (21:00)

BRAZIL   (2)   4   (Zico 28, 31, Falcao 64, Serginho 70)

NEW ZEALAND   (0)   0

Brazil: Waldir; Leandro, Luizinho, Oscar (Edinho), Junior; Socrates, Cerezo, Falcao, Eder; Serginho (Paulo Isidoro), Zico

New Zealand: van Hattum; Dods, Almond, Elrick, Herbert; MacKay, Cresswell (Turner), Sumner, Boath; Rufer (Cole), Wooddin

The qualifiers from this group had already been decided after USSR draw with Scotland saw them join Brazil.  New Zealand, in their first ever World Cup appearance, were just hoping to keep the score down.  Brazil were soon into their lovely passing football and one move cut open the defence only for Cerezo to fire over.  Zico then tried a nonchalant back heel which went just wide.  But in the 28^th minute, Leandro crossed from the right and with it curling away from him, Zico acrobatically volleyed the ball in for the opening goal.  Within minutes they were at it again as Socrates again found Leandro as the overlap on the right and his cross was again turned in by Zico, although less acrobatically.

Falcao got in on the act in the second half as he was able to run far too far and beat the keeper on his near post.  Six minutes later a patient build-up saw Junior clip the ball over the defence to Zico on the left-hand side of the area and he played it inside for Serginho to score.  The Brazilian number 9 often looked out of place with this technically brilliant team, but he had at last opened his account for the tournament.  Brazil were through with 100% record.

World Cup 1982 - Day Six

DAY SIX

Friday 18^th June 1982

GROUP ONE, Estadio Balaidos, Vigo. (17:15)

ITALY   (1)   1   (Conti 19)

PERU   (0)   1   (Diaz 84)

Italy: Zoff; Gentile, Scirea, Collovati, Cabrini; Conti, Tardelli, Marini, Antognoni; Rossi (Causio), Graziani

Peru: Quiroga; Duarte, Olaechea, Diaz, Salguero; Velasquez, Cueto, Uribe (Leguia), Cubillas; Barbadillo (La Rosa), Oblitas

Both games in this group ended goalless so everyone was thankful when Bruno Conti finally broke the deadlock on 19 minutes.  Mind you, it was a goal worth waiting for.  Conti began the move in the centre circle, spreading the ball out wide to Cabrini on the left.  His ball inside the Antognoni allowed Conti to join up with the attack and after side-stepping a challenge he fired a right-foot shot from about 20 yards into the top corner.  Conti had been the one bright spark in a hugely disappointing Italian team and his goal was richly deserved.  There was an unfortunate moment during the first half when the ball was laid off to Velasquez in the centre circle who turned and completely took the referee out.  Walter Eschweiler of West Germany lost everything, his cards, his whistle and he didn’t even have his dignity to hold onto.

Italy had chances to increase their lead but as the game wore on so they were less concerned with adding to their lead, than preserving it.  Peru even had a perfectly good shout for a penalty turned down when Oblitas was tripped by Scirea in the box but the referee, presumably still smarting from his embarrassment earlier, just waved play on.  As the game was reaching a conclusion, La Rosa somehow missed two golden chances but then with 6 minutes to go Peru had a free-kick on the right just outside the area.  It was played square for Duarte to fire a shot from “the D” and it took a wicked deflection off Scirea and wrong-footed Zoff for the equaliser.  The crowd by now seemed to be on the Peruvians side and they were delighted with the draw.

GROUP THREE, Estadio Jose Rico Perez, Alicante. (21:00)

ARGENTINA   (2)   4   (Bertoni 26, Maradona 28, 57, Ardiles 60)

HUNGARY   (0)   1   (Poloskei 76)

Argentina: Fillol; Olguin, Passarella, Tarantini (Barbas), Galvan; Bertoni, Gallego, Ardiles, Maradona; Valdano (Calderon), Kempes

Hungary: Meszaros; Martos (Fazekas), Toth, Garaba, Balint; Sallai, Rab, Nyilasi, Varga; Kiss (Szentes), Poloskei

The difference in fortunes for these two teams in their first matches couldn’t have been starker.  Defending champions, Argentina, were shocked by Belgium and Hungary set a new World Cup scoring record against El Salvador.  Maradona was in fine form and went close on a number of occasions before Bertoni finally got Argentina’s World Cup underway.  A free-kick on the left was floated into the box and Passarella’s header back across goal was turned in at the far post by Bertoni.  Two minutes later he was involved again when his shot was only half-saved by Meszaros and Maradona bundled it over the line.  A double strike which cemented Argentina’s dominance.  It was all Argentina and early in the second half Maradona missed a relatively easy chance and then Bertoni had a goal ruled out for offside.  But it wasn’t long before the holders increased their lead as Kempes put Maradona in and his fierce low shot went under Meszaros for a 3-goal lead.  Three minutes Olguin, the right-back, joined in things with a rasping shot from the right-hand edge of the area which Meszaros could only parry and Ardiles was there to turn in the rebound.  Poloskei got a goal back, but it was little more than a consolation.  Argentina won comfortably and Hungary were proving the side to watch as 16 goals had been scored in the two games they’d played in.  The group was now wide open.

GROUP SIX, Estadio Benito Villamarin, Seville. (21:00)

BRAZIL   (1)   4   (Zico 33, Oscar 48, Eder 64, Falcao 86)

SCOTLAND   (1)   1   (Narey 18)

Brazil:  Waldir; Leandro, Luizinho, Oscar, Junior;  Socrates, Cerezo, Zico, Falcao, Eder; Serginho (Paulo Isidoro)

Scotland: Rough; Narey, Hansen, Miller, Gray; Strachan (Dalglish), Wark, Souness, Hartford (McLeish); Archibald, Robertson

A famous game in Scottish World Cup folklore.  One of the finest teams in international football, Brazil up against a talented an experienced and confident Scottish side.  The early exchanges were were evenly matched, although Brazil looked more menancing.  But in the 18^th minute, Scotland took the lead.  Souness, involved in so many of the moves, played a ball forward to Wark on the right-hand edge of the area and he nodded it down for David Narey, who’d burst forward from right-back.  Narey took the ball down with his left and then fired a right-footed shot into the roof of the net from the edge of the box.  It was a goal which wouldn’t have looked out of place from a Brazilian.  Scottish fans were later angered by Jimmy Hill, in the BBC studio, suggesting Narey had ‘toe-poked it in’.  it was a great start for the Scots, although there was a concern they had just pulled the tail of a tiger and were now about to face the consequences.

Scotland were in front for just 15 minutes.  Brazil had a free-kick in a fairly central position, about 30 yards out.  Zico took two steps and then curled the ball round the wall into the top corner with Rough rooted to the spot.  Brazil were definitely into their stride but couldn’t add to their tally until early in the second half.  Junior swung in a right-footed corner on the left and Oscar rose highest to head Brazil into the lead, 2-1.  It was one-way traffic yet the 3^rd goal was beautiful.  Socrates played it on to Serginho who found Eder free on the left of the area.  With Rough narrowing the angle, Eder noticed him on the 6-yard line so he deftly and audaciously chipped Rough for goal number 3.

There was still time for a 4^th and some good work on the edge of the box between Socrates and Cerezo allowed Falcao to fire a shot into the corner of the net with Rough again stranded.  4-1.  It was a great performance from Brazil who were almost through, but the Scots now knew they may have to beat USSR to go through.