World Cup 1982 - Day Seven

DAY SEVEN

Saturday 19^th June 1982

GROUP ONE, Estadio Riazor, La Coruna. (17:15)

CAMEROON   (0)   0

POLAND   (0)   0

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

Poland: Mlynarczyk; Janas, Majewski, Palasz (Kusto), Zmuda; Jalocha, Buncol, Boniek; Iwan (Szarmach), Lato, Smolarek

After the draw between Italy and Peru yesterday, both these sides knew a win could prove their ticket to the next round.  Neither side had scored in their opening matches and things didn’t change after another 90 minutes.  Poland had the better of things in a fairly poor game with many of the shots coming from too far out to really test either keeper.  The 0-0 draw meant all four games in this group had ended level so it was well set up for two winner-takes-all clashes in the final game.  Poland had to play Peru and Cameroon needing to try and beat Italy to go through.

GROUP THREE, Estadio Nuevo, Elche. (21:00)

BELGIUM   (1)   1   (Coeck 19)

EL SALVADOR   (0)   0

Belgium: Pfaff; Gerets, Meeuws, Baecke, Millecamps; Vercauteren, Coeck, Vandersmissen (van der Elst), Cuelemans (van Moer); Vandenbergh, Czerniatynski

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

In Elche, Belgium were still buzzing from their opening day win over Argentina.  With Hungary losing yesterday, Belgium knew a win here would almost confirm their way to the next round.  El Salvador were just hoping to concede fewer goals than they had against Hungary.  Not a particularly good game , as El Salvador were more physical than they had been before.  19 minutes in and Ludo Coeck scored a stunning strike from probably 40 yards out and any thoughts Belgium could match Hungary’s tally were unfortunately unfounded as that proved to be the only goal of the game.  Belgium were now dominant at the top of the group needing just a draw against Hungary in their final match to go through.  Argentina now knew if Hungary lost to Belgium, they could go through with a win over El Salvador.

GROUP SIX, Estadio La Rosaleda, Malaga. (21:00)

USSR   (1)   3   (Gavrilov 24, Blokhin 48, Baltacha 69)

NEW ZEALAND   (0)   0

USSR: Dasaev; Sulakvelidze, Baltacha, Demianenko, Chivadze; Bessonov, Gavrilov, Bal, Daraselia; Shengelia, Blokhin

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

The Soviets could consider themselves unlucky against Brazil as they lead for much of the match, only to lose.  New Zealand too, had shown periods of dominance over Scotland before eventually losing 2-5.  Gavrilov opened the scoring after a great run by former European Footballer of the Year, Oleg Blokhin, who got to the bye-line to cross and Gavrilov eventually bundled the ball over the line.

Three minutes into the second half Blokhin finished elegantly after Shengelia missed his kick and the Soviet Union were 2-0 up.  New Zealand had some good chances but were outclassed by the Soviets and with 20 minutes to go New Zealand try to play offside when defending a corner but Baltacha was able to convert the cross from close range.  USSR had now put themselves in with a chance of qualifying for the next round knowing their goal difference would mean a draw against Scotland would be enough.  For New Zealand they had performed well in their first ever World Cup appearance.  

World Cup 1982 - Day Three

DAY THREE

Tuesday 15^th June 1982

GROUP ONE, Estadio Riazor, La Coruna. (17:15)

CAMEROON   (0)   0

PERU   (0)   0

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

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

After the draw between Italy and Poland, yesterday, these two teams were hopeful of gaining an advantage.  Peru, who’d impressed four years earlier, still included Scotland’s nemesis, Teofilo Cubillas and Cesar Cueto and were managed by a Brazilian, the wonderfully named Tim.  Cameroon were making their first appearance at a World Cup finals.  The stars in each team were Cubillas and Roger Milla, as both had chances to open the scoring, yet either found the respective keepers in goof form, or the woodwork got in the way.  Towards the end of the first half, Milla had the ball in the net after a good one-two with M’Bida on the edge of the area, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Both teams created chances, but lacked real conviction to make it count.  Cameroon equipped themselves very well, but as the game was nearing an end the crowd, in pre-Mexican wave days, sent on a dog to try and liven things up.  The game ended level and we were still yet to see a goal in Group One.

GROUP THREE, Estadio Nuevo, Elche. (21:00)

HUNGARY   (3)   10   (Nyilasi 3, 83, Poloskei 10, Fazekas 23, 54, Toth 50, Kiss 69, 72, 76, Szentes 71)

EL SALVADOR   (0)   1   (Ramirez 64)

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

El Salvador: Mora; Castillo, Recinos, Rodriguez, Jovel; Ventura (Fagoaga), Rugamas (Ramirez), Huezo; Hernandez, Gonzalez, Rivas

Hungary had competed in the 1978 tournament without winning a game, whereas El Salvador hadn’t been in the finals since 1970.  Hungary had qualified in England’s group and their playmaker was Tibor Nyilasi, with an exciting striker in Andras Torocsik.  3 minutes into the game, Hungary had a corner which Fazekas took and Nyilasi headed in, unmarked.  1-0  In the 10^th minute, Fazekas was again involved as he played Poloskei in and as he got clear of the defence the keeper covered his near post, allowing the Hungarian to fire a shot into the far corner for the 2^nd goal.  2-0.

After 23 minutes, Fazekas picked up the ball in midfield and with no challenge forthcoming, he surged towards the Salvador goal and then fired a shot into the top corner, from about 25 yards.  3-0.  That’s how things stood to half-time, with no warning of what was to come.  It took just 5 minutes after the break for Hungary to score again.  Joszef Toth ran down the left and as he cut into the area his low cross was blocked, but the ball came back to him and with the keeper committed to the cross, Toth had the simple task of rolling the ball into the empty net.  4-0.  4 minutes later, Fazekas took a corner on the left which El Salvador defended, but Nyilasi picked up the clearance and played Fazekas back in, and he fired in his 2^nd goal of the game.  5-0.

The two players who’d impressed most for the Central Americans were the captain, Huezo and Gonzalez.  These two combined to give Luis Ramirez Zapata the opportunity to get a goal back, and they were all very pleased with that.  5-1.  Just after Hungary’s 5^th goal, Laszlo Kiss came on for Torocsik, and then with 20 minutes to go he scored from another Fazekas corner.  6-1.  Three minutes later, Martos cross from the right looked to be going out on the left wing, but Poloskei kept it in and as he got to the byeline, his ball across the goal found Szentes, another substitute, completely free and he tapped it in.  7-1.  A minute later the Hungarians came forward again and Poloskei layed the ball off to Kiss on the left-hand edge of the area, and he audaciously chipped the keeper for his 2^nd goal of the game.  8-1.  4 minutes after that, Toth attacked down the left and his cross was palmed out by the keeper, but it fell to Kiss who fired past two defenders for his hat-trick.  Kiss had only been on the pitch 20 minutes, and his hat-trick had taken just 7 minutes.  9-1. 

Then into the final 10 minutes and Toth’s cross from the left was headed in by Nyilasi, to complete a kind of synergy between his first goal and the last.  10-1.  Hungary had broken the record for most goals in a World Cup finals match.  It was a stunning start for them, and with Argentina losing to Belgium, gave real them hope of getting through the first group stage.

GROUP SIX, Estadio La Rosaleda. (21:00)

SCOTLAND   (3)   5   (Dalglish 18, Wark 29, 32, Robertson 73, Archibald 80)

NEW ZEALAND   (0)   2   (Sumner 54, Wooddin 64)

Scotland: Rough; McGrain, Hansen, Evans, Gray; Strachan (Narey), Wark, Souness; Brazil (Archibald), Dalglish, Robertson

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

Scotland opened their account in their third successive finals appearance, and were up against New Zealand, who were making their debut.  A potential banana-skin reminiscent of Peru, four years earlier, the Scots were in determined mood.  A great run from Gordon Strachan saw him find Kenny Dalglish in the area and the Liverpool striker opened the scoring.  Strachan was again involved when Scotland doubled their lead, as his ball into the area found Brazil whose shot was parried by the keeper and Wark was on hand to turn the ball in.  3 minutes later Strachan crossed from the right and found the head of John Wark and Scotland were 3-0 up.

In the second half, New Zealand seemed to grow in confidence and Wynton Rufer produced a good run down the right and his ball into the area looked to be easily cut-out by Danny McGrain, but his weak touch allowed Steve Sumner the opportunity to bundle the ball past Alan Rough.  It was New Zealand’s first ever goal in a World Cup finals and then 10 minutes later they had their 2^nd.  A long ball from the back put Wooddin away and he finished well to reduce the deficit to just 1 goal.  Scotland appeared increasingly nervous as they were desperate to avoid a humiliation.  The had a free-kick in a central position just outside the area.  They looked like they’d messed things up, then John Robertson floated the ball over the wall to give Scotland a 4-2 lead.  Gordon Strachan then took a corner on the right and Steve Archibald back-headed it in and the Scots could now relax, as they were off and running. 

After the goalless draw in the first match, the evening’s entertainment had seen 18 goals.

World Cup 1982 - Qualification (AFC & OFC)

The Asia and Oceania section had 20 teams contesting the competition to whittle down to 2 qualifiers.  Iran withdrew before the draw was made, so the countries were split into 4 groups for the first section with the winners going into a final group where the top two progress to the finals in Spain.

Group One: 5 teams play each other on a home-and-away basis

Group Two: 5 teams play each other once with all the games being held in Saudi Arabia.

Group Three: 4 teams pay each other once with all the games being held in Kuwait.

Group Four: 6 teams, with all matches played in Hong Kong.  Firstly, there would be ‘Classification Matches’ to determine the make-up of the group stage.  Two groups of three teams would then be set up with each team playing each other once.  After that there would be a Semi-Finals stage, leading to a final to determine the qualifier for the final round in the region.

GROUP ONE

Australia, Chinese Tapei, Fiji, Indonesia, New Zealand

New Zealand won the group as they went through it unbeaten and only conceding 3 goals.  They started off with a thrilling 3-3 draw with Australia, when Grant Turner, Steve Wooddin and Steve Sumner scored.  Brian Turner then scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 win in Fiji.  They were held to a 0-0 draw in Chinese Tapei and later won 2-0 in Australia.

Later in the campaign, Australia thrashed Fiji, 10-0.  Remarkably, all the goals were scored by just two players.  Gary Cole scored 7, including a penalty, and David Mitchell scored the other 3 goals.  If that wasn’t bad enough, Fiji had to fly from Melbourne to Auckland to play New Zealand just two days later.  They were then thumped, 13-0.  Steve Sumner scored 6.  Australia were then humbled when they were beaten in Indonesia by a goal in the last 2 minutes.  They then failed to beat Chinese Taipei and they couldn’t catch New Zealand.

QUALIFIER: New Zealand

GROUP TWO

Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria

All these games were played in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  In the end the home side won every game and therefore the group with it.  They didn’t concede a goal either.  All the games produced results as Iraq finished 2^nd with Qatar 3^rd.

GROUP THREE

Kuwait, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand

All these games were played in Kuwait City and as with Group Two, the home side used their advantage to their advantage, by winning all three of their matches and no conceding a goal.  The final game of the group was between Kuwait and South Korea with the winner going through.  Kuwait won 2-0 with goals from Al-Anbari and Al-Ghanen.

GROUP FOUR

For reasons best known to the organisers, they arranged a preliminary section known as “Classification Matches” where the 6 teams played one-off matches to determine who would go into the two groups for the main section.  All the games were played in Hong Kong and just before Christmas, 1980.  China, Japan and North Korea won those games and so the two groups were decided, with Group A holding China and Japan, with North Korea going into Group B with two of the losers from the Classification section.  North Korea had won their classification match, 3-0 against Macau, so this gave them the honour of an easier Group stage.

GROUP A

Teams played each other once and China beat both Japan and Macau to win the group, with Japan finishing 2^nd to also go through.

GROUP B

Hong Kong drew with Singapore, with North Korea beating Singapore.  So when Hong Kong and North Korea met, Hong Kong only needed a draw to join North Korea in the next round.  They did, 2-2.

SEMI FINALS

North Korea beat Japan, 1-0.  In the other Semi, Hong Kong and China drew 0-0 after extra time.  The penalty shootout saw the Chinese win 5-4 to go through to meet North Korea in the final

FINAL

After three weeks of a qualifying campaign, China were now in the final with North Korea.  2-2 after 90 minutes, the Chinese eventually won 4-2 to qualify for the Final Round.

FINAL ROUND

China, Kuwait, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia.

The last three representatives from this section in World Cup finals, Australia (1974), Israel (1970) and North Korea (1966) were absent from this section so all four teams knew qualification would give them their first ever appearance at a finals.  The games were held between September-December 1981.

China and New Zealand played out a 0-0 draw in Beijing.  But then a week later in the return fixture in Auckland, Ricki Herbert’s goal on half-time gave New Zealand a 1-0 win.  New Zealand was home again a week later when Kuwait were the visitors.  Steve Wooddin put the home side in front, but Al-Dakheel equalised from the penalty spot just after the break.  With just 8 minutes to go Yacoub got the winner for Kuwait to give them a 2-1 win.

But if Kuwait thought they’d done all the hard work, they then travelled to Beijing and lost, 0-3 to China, to send the Chinese to the top of the group.  Saudi Arabia then took their bow at the beginning of November when Kuwait visited them.  Al-Anbari scored the only goal of the game to give Kuwait a 1-0 win and they’d now played all their away games, winning two of them.

Saudi Arabia were then up against China in Malaysia and were 2-0 up inside the opening 15 minutes.  But the Chinese put another good performance together and 2 goals in as many minutes just after the hour brought things level and then 2 more goals in the last 15 minutes gave China a 4-2 win.  A week later, still in Malaysia, China and Saudi Arabia met again and this time China won 2-0, to give themselves a great chance of qualifying.

It was now clear, Saudi Arabia was the weakest team in the group and therefore matches against them could determine the qualifiers, and possibly on goal difference.  New Zealand met the Saudis in Auckland but were held, 2-2, throwing their progress into a little doubt.

Kuwait then played host to China, knowing the Chinese probably only needed a draw.  Al-Anbari was again on target as Kuwait won 1-0.  With three games left to play in the group, China had finished on 7pts.  They were 2pts ahead of Kuwait, who had 2 to play, and 3pts ahead of New Zealand, who also had 2 to play.

Into December and Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia, 2-0 with both goals from Al-Dakheel to put them in a strong position.  Things were really tight, as China and Kuwait were locked on 7pts with Kuwait having a game in hand.  China had a superior goal difference and that could prove crucial. 

In mid-December, Kuwait and New Zealand met in Kuwait City.  The home side only needed a draw, but New Zealand could really do with winning.  Any defeat for Kuwait would hand the qualification to China.  Goals for Kuwait from Al-Hashash and Kameel cancelled out the two from Sumner and Wynton Rufer.  The game ended 2-2 which helped Kuwait confirm their qualification for Spain.

To sort out the 2^nd qualifier, it all came down to the final match of the group.  In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia played host to New Zealand.  There was nothing in this for the home side but the visitors needed to win by 6 clear goals, otherwise China were going through.  16 minutes into the game and youngster, Wynton Rufer put the Kiwis ahead.  A minute later Brian Turner made it 2-0.  With 7 minutes of the first half remaining, Rufer then banged in his 2^nd of the game and then Steve Wooddin got the 4^th almost straight after.  Brian Turner then scored his 2^nd of the game right on half-time, when he converted a penalty.  5-0 up at the break and belief was all around the Kiwis.  If things stood as they were, they would be into a play-off against China, but score another goal and they’d be through automatically.  They spurned several chances in the second half, clearly through the excitement of it all and the game ended 5-0 to New Zealand.  Remarkably, they’d overturned the goal difference deficit and earned a play-off with China.

10^th January 1982 in Singapore and the play-off to determine the other qualifier from this section.  Wooddin put New Zealand in front by half-time and then early in the second period, Rufer scored to give them a 2-0 lead.  Huang got one back but New Zealand hung on to pull off a famous victory.

QUALIFIERS: Kuwait, New Zealand

From the first qualifying match in March 1980 to the last one in January 1982, we now had our 24 qualifiers to join Spain and Argentina.

West Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, England, Yugoslavia, Italy, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Poland, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Honduras, El Salvador, Algeria, Cameroon, Kuwait, New Zealand.