|
ITALY !
In
April 1970, Sir Stanley Rous said the World Cup would be better
balanced with 24 teams. 12 years later there was an opportunity
to see whether he was right or not, because at the FIFA congress
just before the 1978 tournament started, it was agreed to
increase the number of teams to either 20 or 24 depending upon
the host nation's ability to cater for the extra matches. Spain
hosted the 12th World Cup with 24 competing nations for the
first time. Some people said this was at least a few qualifiers
too many, but apart from El Salvador, none of the
"new" nations made a fool of themselves. Cameroon held
eventual winners Italy to a draw and were eliminated only on
less goals scored than the Italians. Algeria shocked the world
by beating West Germany and Honduras held host nation Spain to a
draw.
Because of the increased number of nations, there was yet
another new format. The 24 nations were divided into six groups
of four. The top two teams then went into four further groups
with three teams in each, with the group winners progressing
into the semifinal knock-out stage. Spain spent £40 million on
revamping their stadiums which were in excellent condition by
the time the World Cup started. The tournament was a success
from the administrative viewpoint.
Brazil came to Spain with their best team since 1970 and played
some entertaining soccer with the likes of Zico, Eder, Socrates
and Falcao. Defending champions Argentina lost the tournament's
opening game against Belgium, but qualified easily to the next
round anyway, with a rising star Maradona. Poland and France
also had good sides and were expected to go far in this
tournament.
The system of a second groupstage won few friends in Spain.
Thankfully this system was not going to be used in future world
cups. However, Italy were placed in a group with heavyweighters
like Brazil and Argentina. None gave them a chance, but Enzo
Bearzot's side surprised everybody and beat both the South
American giants. Paolo Rossi woke up and scored a hat-trick in
Italy's 3-2 victory over Brazil, where the Brazillians only
needed a draw to reach the semifinal. England went out unbeaten
in the tournament, thanks to two goalless draws, while the
Germans beat Spain and qualified. France had little trouble in
eliminating Austria and Northern Ireland, while Poland continued
to impress with a hat-trick by Boniek against Belgium. A draw
against Soviet Union sent them to the semifinals.
Paolo Rossi emerged as the star of the World Cup when he knocked
in two more against Poland in the semifinal and sent Italy to
the final. The other semifinal between West Germany and France
has been described as perhaps the most dramatic in World Cup
history. It was the first match ever to be decided on penalties
in the World Cup. German keeper Schumacher became famous world
wide when he knocked Battiston to the ground and escaped without
even a caution. West Germany came back from 3-1 down in extra
time, to win the following penalty shoot-out. Poland with Boniek
back from suspension, won the bronzematch against France who
played with many reserves. The Poles celebrated as if they had
won the final itself. They had all reason to, they had played
entertaining and achieved great results. Italy beat West Germany
and won the World Cup for their third time, with Rossi getting
another goal which established him as the topscorer of the
tournament with six goals. Read more about the World Cup final
by clicking on the "Final" link in the left column.
|
