England v Italy - Past Encounters, World Cup Qualifying, 1977

My favourite England v Italy match was in November 1977.  England had been drawn with Italy in the qualifying group for the World Cup to be held in Argentina in 1978.  Back in those days Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union existed so there were only enough countries for groups of 4.  Along with Italy and England were Finland and Luxembourg and so the matches between the big two were going to decide the winner of the group.  Only one team qualified, so those two matches would be crucial.  Italy had won the first game in Rome the year before when England were managed by Don Revie.  Failure to score enough goals against Finland and Luxembourg meant England went into this game needing to win by quite a few.  Revie had been lured to the Middle East by the promise of unbelievable wealth and so Ron Greenwood was put in charge.  His first match in charge had been a friendly at home to Switzerland when he selected 7 players from the Liverpool side who had just won the European Cup.  England drew 0-0, and then went to Luxembourg and could only manage a 2-0 win.

So it was to a full house at Wembley that England ventured to try and find some way of reaching the World Cup Finals.  They had missed out 4 years earlier, due to a stubborn Polish defence and England were facing the prospect 16 years since they successfully went through a qualifying campaign.  Greenwood was bold with his selection, handing first caps to Peter Barnes (Manchester City), Steve Coppell (Manchester United) and Bob Latchford (Everton).  Barnes would play wide on the left with Coppell wide on the right and Latchford was the target man up front.  Keegan would play just off Latchford as Greenwood was looking to re-create the Toshack/Keegan partnership so successful at Liverpool during the 70’s.  The midfield was policed by Ray Wilkins (Chelsea) and Trevor Brooking (West Ham).  Brooking and Keegan would go on to form a lethal partnership and England were rarely beaten when both of them were on the pitch together.

Italy contained some good players.  Dino Zoff in goal, Claudio Gentile and the captain, Giancinto Facchetti in defence.  Marco Tardelli, Franco Causio and Giancarlo Antognoni in midifield with Roberto Bettega and Francesco Graziani up front.  Zoff, Tardelli, Causio and Gentile would all be in the squad which won the World Cup in Spain 1982.

A fantastic atmosphere as the crowd cheered every attack.  Coppell linked up with Keegan, but his shot went over the bar.  Brooking was involved in everything, and in the 11^th minute he had the ball on the right wing and his cross into the area was met by Keegan’s header which looped over Zoff and England were in front.  The goal difference between the two sides was still in Italy’s favour, but only by 1 goal.  Peter Barnes had a couple of chances to increase England’s lead but he shot wide on each occasion.  He then went on a mazy run past several Italians in the area, but Zoff saved the shot.

As the half was coming to an end, Emlyn Hughes played a ball into the Italian box and Benetti half cleared it.  As the ball was running out towards the corner flag on the right wing, Keegan chased it with Tardelli.  Before the England captain could get to the ball, Tardelli elbowed Keegan in the face.  Unbelievably, the ref took no action.

At half-time England lead 1-0.  The second half was virtually one-way traffic as England pushed for the second goal.  Dave Watson forced a good save from Zoff when he volleyed from a corner.  Then with 10 minutes to go, Keegan picked up the ball on the right and as he neared the area, twisting and turning, he flicked the ball into the area where Brooking was unmarked.  Brooking slotted the ball past Zoff and England were 2-0 up.  At least at this stage Italy had to win in their last match against Luxembourg.

It was a famous win for England, but all in vain as Italy beat Luxembourg 3-0 to win the group and qualify for the World Cup Finals.  For England, though, this promised better things to come after the dire years of Don Revie.

ENGLAND: Clemence (Liverpool); Neal (Liverpool), Hughes (Liverpool), Watson (Man City), Cherry (Leeds); Wilkins (Chelsea), Brooking (West Ham); Coppell (Man Utd), Latchford (Everton) [Pearson (Man Utd)], Keegan (Hamburg) [Francis (Birmingham)], Barnes (Man City)

GOALS: Keegan (11), Brooking (80)

ITALY: Zoff; Tardelli, Gentile, Facchetti (Cuccureddu), Mozzini; Causio, Benetti, Zaccarelli, Antognoni; Bettega, Graziani (Sala)

World Cup Stories - Ramon Quiroga 1978

Many South American goalkeepers have earned the nickname ‘El Loco’, as in madman, but Peruvian goalie, Ramon Quiroga, certainly worked hard to make it his own.  The 1978 tournament in Argentina was into its Second Phase, another round of group matches.  Peru and Poland met in Mendoza having both lost their opening games in Group B.  Szarmach had put the Poles in front midway through the second half Peru continued to push forward.  As the game reached the final five minutes Poland played the ball forward into the Peru half down the left hand side, when suddenly Quiroga appeared from out of shot to tackle Deyna about 30 yards from goal.  He then calmly brought the ball forward before playing it down the right wing.  In an era when keepers rarely ventured from their areas, this brought delight from the crowd.

For English viewers, commentator Gerry Harrison and his summariser, Ian St. John, had alerted the audience to the keeper’s antics but the television director had yet to pick up on it.  Then with just a couple of minutes to go and Poland camped in their own half, Gorgon desperately cleared the ball from his own area to find Lato free on the right about 10 yards in his own half.  Suddenly there was Quiroga in the opposition half to try and tackle the Polish striker.  Lato knocked the ball round the keeper who then rugby-tackled him.  To great howls of delight from St. John, English referee Pat Partridge had no option but to book Quiroga, who duly clasped his hands behind his back bowing in contrition.  Argentinian born, Quiroga had certainly endeared himself to the crowd.

He wasn’t just a clown, he had pulled off some fine saves during the tournament although it ended in controversy as Argentina, needing to win by 4 clear goals in their final Group match to reach the Final, beat Peru 6-0.  But for El Loco he had won a place in many people’s hearts for his antics.

Go to 1:33:58, this is where the fun starts

World Cup Stories - Clive Thomas & Brazil 1978

For those who followed English football in the 1970’s, Clive Thomas was well-known.  In the days when referees were less conspicuous than they are today, the mere fact one of them was ‘well-known’ had to be because he was controversial.  Ask any Everton fan, preferably one of at least over 45 and they will regale tales of exasperation at a decision to rule-out a perfectly good looking winner in the FA Cup Semi-Final against Liverpool in 1977.  He had done something similar in the Semi-Final in 1975 when he denied Ipswich a perfectly good goal against West Ham.  Ironically, both incidents were against the same player, Brian Hamilton.

Bryan Hamilton

A stickler for the rules, Welsh-born Thomas was respected by FIFA and officiated in the 1974 World Cup Finals as well as the 1976 European Championships.  But it was at the 1978 World Cup Finals he managed to earn a reputation as one of the most officious referees in the game.

Cue day three of the tournament and Brazil is in action.  The hosts, Argentina, had taken their bow the night before, coming from a goal down to beat Hungary.  This had been a nervous first showing in Buenos Aires but they were up and running.  Brazil turned up at the Jose Maria Minella Stadium in Mar del Plata, in the Buenos Aires region.  The stadium had been purpose built for the tournament, and had hosted the Italy v France game the day before.  Now Brazil were there to meet Sweden.  After having one of the finest teams ever seen in 1970, the 1974 Brazilians had been disappointing despite finishing fourth.  Gone were Pele, Jairzinho, Gerson and Carlos Alberto and along with them went the samba football.  Rivelino was still there and in this tournament we had our first glimpse of Zico, ‘the white Pele’.  Sweden had only had to beat Norway and Switzerland to get to this stage and had a rather ageing side, captained by 35-year old Bjorn Nordqvist.

Both sides missed a host of chances, especially Brazil and then with 8 minutes before the break Tomas Sjoberg put the Swedes a goal up.  Right on half-time, Reinaldo grabbed an equaliser.  The second half was full of mistakes and disjointed play and remained level deep into injury time.  Brazil earned a corner on the right, when the linesman ordered Nelinho to re-spot the ball as it seemed outside the corner arc.  Nelinho then took the kick, and bent it with the outside of his right foot into the 6-yard box where Zico headed it in.  Brazil had seemed to have won with a dramatic late goal.  But just as they were celebrating everyone noticed Clive Thomas was walking off shaking his finger.  Thomas had placed himself on the angle of the bye-line and the 6-yard box at the far post and once the ball went into the net Thomas blew his whistle for full-time.  As he walked off he was surrounded by distraught Brazilian players yet he just waved his arms, and then with maximum pedantry he pointed to his watch signalling time up.  Looking rather pleased with himself he continued to be the first person off the pitch with an air of a school-master who has just signalled the end of break-time.  The Brazilians were stunned, with the Swedes ecstatic having gained a point, but Thomas was unmoved.

He later claimed that Nelinho had used up so much time taking the corner that he blew his whistle as the ball was in the air.  Replays remained inconclusive as it appeared Thomas waited until the ball was in the back of the net to decide to disallow it.  Remember, there were no fourth officials in those days, no board signalling time added on so no one in the stadium had any idea how much time a referee would allow at the end.  Thomas maintained he told the Brazilians to get on with it, although whether any of them could understand a man from Rhondda valley is unclear.

In Thomas’s defence he wasn’t the first referee to do this in this tournament and ironically the first incident was at the same stadium the day before.  Italy met France with Bernard Lacombe scoring, what was then, the fastest goal in World Cup history, before the Italians hit back with two goals.  At the end of the game the French had a free-kick on the right wing near the bye-line.  As they’re preparing to take it, there’s a two-man Italian wall and everyone else in the area.  The French player is just about to take the kick when the referee, standing on the 6-yard box, suddenly whistles for the end of the game.  Whether the French would’ve scored is uncertain and the ref on that occasion, Nicolae Rainea of Romania, certainly whistled before the kick was taken whereas Thomas didn’t.  But Thomas will always be remembered for this incident, something he seemed to be very proud of.

World Cup Stories - Match Fixing

Match fixing, as FIFA will tell you, carries a very serious penalty if exposed.  Down the years there are instances of players and even referees banned for trying to arrange the result of a match.  But what happens if both teams agree a result beforehand? 

In 1978 hosts Argentina had received rather favourable scheduling for their fixtures throughout the tournament.  For each of their group matches they kicked off in the evening, after the other fixture had been played, giving them the advantage of knowing what they needed to do.  When they progressed through to the Second Phase, another group format, they again kicked off after the other fixture.  In this tournament there were no Semi-Finals so the winners of each Second Phase group would play each other in the Final.  Argentina had been drawn in the same group as Brazil and both countries won their opening game of the group, then played out a goalless draw in Rosario.  Brazil then beat Poland leaving Argentina, who kicked off three hours later, the luxury of knowing how many goals they needed to win by.  Argentina was also fortunate to be playing Peru in their final match, rather than Poland, the other nation in the group.  Brazil’s 3-1 win over Poland meant Argentina needed to win by 4 clear goals.

The significance of Peru as their opponents should not be underestimated.  Often considered a minnow in the continent, Peru was also under a military dictatorship much as Argentina was.  During those days it was common for leaders to send political dissidents to other countries for torture.  Peru had requested Argentina accept a group of 13 prisoners and the Argentine rulers struck a bargain by agreeing to accept the group on condition Peru throw the World Cup match.  The Argentine dictatorship had tried everything to portray the country in a good light and winning the World Cup, the believed, would go a long way towards international acceptance.

One other factor in their favour was the Peruvian goalkeeper mentioned earlier in this piece, Ramon Quiroga, who was born in Rosario, which was the venue for the fateful match.  Peru had been a revelation during the competition, winning their group by beating Scotland and Iran and holding the Dutch to a goalless draw.  But defeats in the Second Phase to Brazil and Poland gave them nothing more to play for.  Quiroga had been one of the characters of the competition and they were expected to prove stiff opposition.

Peru were 0-2 down at half-time and had hit the post themselves, but rumours of Argentine officials entering the away dressing room at half-time would seem to be founded as within 27 minutes of the second half, Argentina had scored another four times to give them the winning margin they required.

Quiroga was ostrasiced in his own country, despite his protestations and both countries had always denied any skulduggery.  But recent testimony from a Peruvian senator confirmed the deal had been done.  Argentina went on to beat Netherlands 3-1 in the Final to claim their first World Cup win.

Fast forward to 1982 and another notorious occasion took place at Gijon in Spain.  West Germany and Austria were the perpetrators.  Austria had been in fine form with victories over Chile and Algeria, but the Germans had been humbled by Algeria but bounced back to beat Chile.  As with every other World Cup up to this one, the final group fixture kicked off after every other one had been completed.  Algeria’s win over Chile the day before gave the Germans a simple scenario – win the game and they were through.  The Austrians had already booked their place in the Second Phase so they had little to play for other than, as everyone including the Algerians hoped, winning bragging rights against their neighbours.

Ten minutes in, Horst Hrubesch whose goals against Belgium had won the Germans the European Championship two years previously, put his side in front.  From there the game was over as a contest.  Both teams played out a disgraceful non-contest for the remaining 80 minutes to a chorus of boos from the watching crowd.  It was a blatant example of both teams ‘arranging’ the result as a 1-0 win for the Germans suited both sides.  The Algerians could do nothing other than watch in disbelief.  The Germans went through and even made it to the Final, losing to Italy.  For the Austrians, this meant they finished second in the group and were into the next phase in a group with the rapidly improving French.  The Germans, not only got the result they wanted, but obviously felt meeting England and Spain in the next round would give them a better chance of progressing than the group the Austrians ended up with.  The Austrians failed to win another match and had to sit and watch the Germans make the Final.  Whether that justified keeping their neighbours sweet was a mute point.

FIFA was outraged and changed their own rules to ensure final fixtures in each group stage kicked off at the same time to deny any side an unfair advantage.