The Story of the World Cup

by Brian Glanville

For thirty-eight minutes, Spain deservedly kept their lead, their drive and brio several times taking them close to another goal; once especially, through Peirò. Then Amarildo, rising splendidly to the occasion and the opportunity, converted Zagalo’s centre to equalise. Again Spain almost scored, this time through Verges, but with four minutes left Garrincha got electrically away, crossed, and Amarildo darted in to head the winner. It was a very near thing; and a manifest injustice to Spain.

  The last game of the group produced the strangest result, Mexico defeating Czechoslovakia 3–1 and giving one of the best performances in their long but mediocre history in the World Cup. It meant that in the quarter-finals Czechoslovakia would play Hungary at Rancagua, while England came to Viña to meet Brazil.

  Back in Arica, and Group 1, Russia, who had walloped the Uruguayans 5–0 in Moscow the previous month, now found that Uruguay in and Uruguay out of World Cups were two different teams; their 2–1 win was achieved only after eighty-nine minutes, and was extremely lucky. Reduced to ten men for an hour by an injury to Eliseo Alvarez, Uruguay pulled back their fine winger, Domingo Perez, and had the best of the argument, equalising Mamikin’s goal through Sasia after fifty-four minutes, and hitting the post three times. Their 4-2-4, with Nestor Gonçalves deploying his unhurried skills in midfield, would surely have prevailed at full strength.

  Not that Russia had covered themselves with glory in their second game. Colombia, astonishingly, had held them to a 4–4 draw which L'Équipe’s annual described as ‘one of the greatest surprises of modern football’. Russia, after all, were 3–0 up after eleven minutes, and if Acero reduced it to 3–1, that was still the score at half-time, while Ponedelnik brought it to 4–1, early in the second half.

  It was then, after sixty-eight minutes, that something very strange happened. Lev Yachine, of all people, gave a goal away straight from a corner. Suddenly the options were open. The little black insideforward, Klinger, began tearing holes in the strapping Russian defence, the whole team ran like furies, Rada scored a third goal, Klinger equalised. Though Yachine did make a couple of fine saves, L'Équipe’s annual solemnly, and prematurely, recorded that the match ‘certainly marked an historic date, the end of the greatest modern goalkeeper, if not of all time: Lev Yachine.’

  Yugoslavia, meanwhile, were winning their key match against Uruguay 3–1, with Sekularac in such transcendent form, working such wonders of control and construction that the very Uruguayans bore him off on their shoulders at the end! His henchmen were the powerfully made, thrusting double spearhead, Galic and Jerkovic, scorers of the second and third goals. The first came through Josip Skoblar, a young left-winger later to make a great name in Marseilles, from the penalty spot, equalising Cabrera’s goal.

  Beating a now exhausted Colombia 5–0 in their third match, Jerkovic scoring three, Yugoslavia finished second in the group. Their quarter-final opponents, for the third consecutive World Cup, would be … West Germany.

  The Quarter-Finals Brazil v. England

  At Viña, Brazil—and Garrincha—accounted for England. Perhaps because he was no longer rivalled and obscured by Pelé, Garrincha continued in a vein of luminous virtuosity which would persist into the semi-final. Wilson did what he could with him; but it was inevitably little. To the panther swerve and acceleration, the deadly goal-line cross, which one had seen in Sweden, Garrincha had now added a thumping shot in either foot and remarkable power in the air. The first Brazilian goal, after thirty-one minutes, came when he, at five foot seven, utterly outjumped Maurice Norman at six foot two, to head in a corner kick. That it was no fluke, no mere aberration by Norman, was shown when he did just the same against Chile.

  A much worse error by Ron Flowers would have put Brazil 2–0 up, were it not for a marvellous save by Springett. Flowers, retrieving a ball on the right, bemusedly turned and pushed it straight across his own goal area. Amarildo was in like a ferret; only for Springett, still quicker, to dive and block at his feet. It was a save too easily forgotten afterwards when attempts were made to turn Springett into a scapegoat.

  Within five minutes of the second half, Garrincha decided the game. After fifty-four minutes, his fulminating, swerving free kick bounced off Springett’s broad chest for Vavà to score as easily as Hitchens; then his diabolical swerving long shot utterly deceived the goalkeeper and curled in by the right-hand post. Brazil had won their place in the semi-finals.

  Yugoslavia v. Germany

  Yugoslavia flew down to Santiago to play Germany. Milovan Ciric, the Yugoslav manager, a large, bald, consistently amiable man, deplored his lack of wingers and smilingly promised that his team would know how to cope with Germany’s physical challenge.

  Third time proved lucky; for at last Germany were conquered, at last their sheer, forbidding muscularity did not subdue Yugoslavia’s greater finesse. The Germans played catenaccio again, the Yugoslavs 4-2-4. It was a spirited and splendid game, perhaps decided by its tactics. For the Germans, playing so tightly and cautiously, gave Radakovic, the little Yugoslav right-half, a scope and space that finally proved fatal.

  Germany favoured the long pass, Yugoslavia the short. In an absorbing half Germany initially forced the game, Seeler hitting a post, but then until the half-hour it was the Yugoslavs who dominated, making but not taking chances. The second half, though still exciting, was less distinguished, both teams appearing tired. Schnellinger, curiously anticipating Germany’s ‘total football’ of a decade later, often left his post as sweeper to join in attacks, a dangerously effective stratagem which several times almost brought a goal. As for the Yugoslavs, they now had Radakovic, who had collided with Seeler, playing with a bandaged head, and somewhat diminished in consequence.

  Extra time seemed certain, a German win the more likely, when at last, after eighty-six vibrant minutes, Galic pulled the ball back to Radakovic whose shot, from fifteen yards, flew under the bar to beat the able Fahrian.

  Chile v. Russia

  In Arica, Chile astonished and uplifted their supporters by defeating Russia, with Yachine once more betraying strange deficiencies. He should have saved both Chilean goals, each a long shot. Leonel Sanchez got the first after ten minutes from a twenty-five-yard free kick, a searing cross shot from the left. Eladio Rojas, the attacking half-back, scored the winner eighteen minutes later; two minutes after Chislenko had equalised from fully thirty-five yards. For all its formidable power, how so long a shot beat a goalkeeper as great as Yachine remains a mystery.

  The Chileans, for the occasion, pulled Toro deeper, turning their 4-2-4 into a virtual 4-3-3, though at times Toro broke sharply and effectively from the back. It was not one of Chile’s best days; if anything, the frenzied support of the 17,000-strong crowd, the knowledge that the whole country hung breathlessly on the result, inhibited more than it inspired them. Nevertheless, they were through.

  Czechoslovakia v. Hungary

  So, in the strangest fashion, were Czechoslovakia, outplayed at Rancagua by a Hungarian team which beat a tattoo on their goalposts, but could not beat the incredible Schroiff; as brilliant that day as Yachine was fallible. Scherer, in the thirteenth minute, surprised Grosics with a cross shot in one of Czechoslovakia’s pitifully rare breakaways. It was enough, however, to put his team in the semi-final, for on the one occasion when Hungary, and Tichy, seemed to have scored, Russia’s Latychev, the veteran referee, gave it obscurely offside.

  The Semi-Finals Brazil v. Chile

  The Brazilians were so much superior to the Chileans that it was hardly a match. Garrincha, fiery and uncontrollable, seemed determined to win the game on his own. After only nine minutes, he pivoted on the ball in an inside-left position to beat Escutti with a killing twenty-yard left-foot shot. After thirty-two, he performed another of his trampoline jumps to head in a corner by Zagalo.

  Chile, to their credit, were not supine. Ten minutes later Toro, right-footed, smashed a mighty free kick past Gilmar from the edge of the area to bring them back into the game; only for Vavà, a mere two
minutes into the second half, to restore the margin, heading in Garrincha’s dropping corner.

  Once more the Chileans got up off the ground, inspired by the gifted Toro, the determined Rojas, the quick, slight, mobile right-back Eyzaguirre, fighting back into the game with a penalty by Leonel Sanchez for hands by Zozimo. But just as the match seemed alive again the indefatigable Zagalo moved up the left wing, spun past his man with princely ease and delivered a short centre which Vavà headed in.

  The closing minutes were displeasing. Garrincha, kicked by Rojas and tired of being kicked, kicked back and was sent off. As he made his way round the field towards the dressing-rooms, to a cacophony of whistling, a bottle struck him and cut open his head. Soon afterwards Landa, the Chilean centre-forward, followed him. He was suspended. Garrincha, surprisingly, was pardoned.

  Czechoslovakia v. Yugoslavia

  In Viña del Mar, a mere, miserable 5,000 supporters stood under the pines, cypresses and willows to see Czechoslovakia beat the book again, this time defeating Yugoslavia. The Slavs, as Ciric had feared, were indeed weak on the wings, and could not breach the Czechs’ packed defence in the centre. Tactically, Czechoslovakia were a credit to their manager, the silver-haired, silver-toothed, Austrian-born Vytlacil; surviving the first half, they got the goals they needed in the second.

  Kadraba gave them a fortuituous lead three minutes after half-time, but when Jerkovic equalised in the sixty-ninth minute, a Yugoslav win again seemed probable. Instead, Schroiff defied them as superbly as he had defied the Hungarians, Scherer scored ten minutes from time in a breakaway, and a silly handling offence by Markovic allowed the same tall player to make it 3–1 from a penalty. The Final would reunite Brazil and Czechoslovakia.

  The Final Brazil v. Czechoslovakia

  Needless to say, Brazil were favourites to beat the Czechs; but for that matter so had Hungary and Yugoslavia been in the quarter- and semi-finals. The Yugoslavs, in the third-place match, went through the irrelevant motions in Santiago and lost to a much more committed Chile with a last-minute goal by Eladio Rojas; the commanding Soskic would have saved it had the shot not been deflected. Sekularac, however, was splendid.

  Perhaps Czechoslovakia would have brought off their greatest surprise of all had not the one crucial constant in their previous success been missing. Something snapped—Schroiff lost his form. Like a bomber pilot who has made one raid too many, an infantryman who cracks after too many campaigns, he would fall to pieces in the Final.

  The game began with a shock; the shock of a Czech goal which, with no Pelé, with Schroiff in form, might have worked wonders. After sixteen minutes a superb combination between Scherer and Masopust split Brazil’s defence asunder. Scherer, deep on the right, held the ball and judged his diagonal pass as exquisitely as clever Masopust judged his run. Through the gap he went, calm and implacable, to strike the ball past Gilmar with his left foot. For the second successive World Cup Final, Brazil had conceded the first goal.

  For the second time, too, they fought back, though it would take them till after half-time to get ahead. The equaliser took no time at all; and it was Amarildo’s. Beating the sturdy Pluskal, he advanced on Schroiff almost along the left goal line. What would he do? Shoot for the near post or the far; or not shoot at all, pull the ball back? It was a fearful dilemma, and Schroiff ’s answer was wrong. Guarding the near post, he gave Amarildo enough room for an extraordinary shot, the ball flying in at the far corner, striking the side netting.

  In the second half the Czechs appeared to be holding their own, at their own adagio pace. Kadraba had a good shot, Jelinek another; Brazil seemed to have gone into their shell. Suddenly, after sixty-nine minutes, they struck, and again Amarildo was the decisive figure, a wonderfully effective replacement for Pelé. Boxed in on the left-hand goal line, he beat his man with a sudden galvanic turn from left to right, centred across the exposed goal with his right foot—and there was Zito, to head into the empty net.

  It was over and done with, and Schroiff might have been spared the small calvary of the third goal thirteen minutes from the end. Djalma Santos, reaching casually, massively backwards to a ball bouncing on his touchline, booted it with his left foot high, high up into the sun. It fell upon the dazzled Schroiff like unmerited retribution. He held up his hands to it, dropped it, and the impassive Vavà kicked it in.

  Comes the hour, comes the man. In losing Pelé, Brazil had found Amarildo, and their elderly, distinguished team had kept the Cup.

  RESULTS: Chile 1962

  Group I

  Uruguay 2, Colombia 1 (HT 0/1)

  Russia 2, Yugoslavia 0 (HT 0/0)

  Yugoslavia 3, Uruguay 1 (HT 2/1)

  Russia 4, Colombia 4 (HT 3/1)

  Russia 2, Uruguay 1 (HT 1/0)

  Yugoslavia 5, Colombia 0 (HT 2/0)

  GOALS

  P W D L F A Pts

  Russia 3 2 1 0 8 5 5

  Yugoslavia 3 2 0 1 8 3 4

  Uruguay 3 1 0 2 4 6 2

  Colombia 3 0 1 2 5 11 1

  Group II

  Chile 3, Switzerland 1 (HT 1/1)

  Germany 0, Italy 0 (HT 0/0)

  Chile 2, Italy 0 (HT 0/0)

  Germany 2, Switzerland 1 (HT 1/0)

  Germany 2, Chile 0 (HT 1/0)

  Italy 3, Switzerland 0 (HT 1/0)

  GOALS

  P W D L F A Pts

  Germany 3 2 1 0 4 1 5

  Chile 3 2 0 1 5 3 4

  Italy 3 1 1 1 3 2 3

  Switzerland 3 0 0 3 2 8 0

  Group III

  Brazil 2, Mexico 0 (HT 0/0)

  Czechoslovakia 1, Spain 0 (HT 0/0)

  Brazil 0, Czechoslovakia 0 (HT 0/0)

  Spain 1, Mexico 0 (HT 0/0)

  Brazil 2, Spain 1 (HT 0/1)

  Mexico 3, Czechoslovakia 1 (HT 2/1)

  GOALS

  P W D L F A Pts

  Brazil 3 2 1 0 4 1 5

  Czechoslovakia 3 1 1 1 2 3 3

  Mexico 3 1 0 2 3 4 2

  Spain 3 1 0 2 2 3 2

  Group IV

  Argentina 1, Bulgaria 0 (HT 1/0)

  Hungary 2, England 1 (HT 1/0)

  England 3, Argentina 1 (HT 2/0)

  Hungary 6, Bulgaria 1 (HT 4/0)

  Argentina 0, Hungary 0 (HT 0/0)

  England 0, Bulgaria 0 (HT 0/0)

  GOALS

  P W D L F A Pts

  Hungary 3 2 1 0 8 2 5

  England 3 1 1 1 4 3 3

  Argentina 3 1 1 1 2 3 3

  Bulgaria 3 0 1 2 1 7 1

  Quarter-finals

  Santiago

  Yugoslavia 1 West Germany 0

  Soskic; Durkovic, Jusufi; Fahrian; Novak,

  Radakovic, Markovic, Schnellinger; Schulz,

  Popovic; Kovacevic, Erhardt, Giesemann;

  Sekularac, Jerkovic, Haller, Szymaniak,

  Galic, Skoblar. Seeler, Brulls, Schaefer.

  SCORER

  Radakovic for Yugoslavia

  HT 0/0

  Viña del Mar

  Brazil 3 England 1

  Gilmar; Santos, D., Springett; Armfield,

  Mauro, Zozimo, Santos, Wilson; Moore,

  N.; Zito, Didì, Norman, Flowers;

  Garrincha, Vavà Douglas, Greaves,

  Amarildo, Zagalo. Hitchens, Haynes,

  Charlton.

  SCORERS

  Garrincha (2), Vavà for Brazil

  Hitchens for England

  HT 1/1

  Arico

  Chile 2 Russia 1

  Escutti; Eyzaguirre, Yachine; Tchokelli,

  Contreras, Sanchez, R., Ostrovski; Voronin,

  Navarro; Toro, Rojas; Maslenkin, Netto;

  Ramirez, Landa, Tobar, Chislenko, Ivanov,

  Sanchez, L. Ponedelnik, Mamikin,

  Meshki.

  SCORERS

  Sanchez, L., Rojas for Chile

  Chislenko for Russia

  HT 2/1

  Rancagua

  Czechoslovakia 1 Hungary 0

  Schroiff; Lala, Novak; Grosios; Matrai,

&
nbsp; Pluskal, Popluhar, Sarosi; Solymosi,

  Masopust; Pospichal, Meszoly, Sipos;

  Scherer, Kvasniak, Sandor, Rakosi,

  Kadraba, Jelinek. Albert, Tichy, Fenyvesi.

  SCORERS

  Scherer for Czechoslovakia

  HT 1/0

  Semi-finals

  Santiago

  Brazil 4 Chile 2

  Gilmar; Santos, D., Escutti; Eyzaguirre,

  Mauro, Zozimo, Santos, Contreras, Sanchez,

  N.; Zito, Didì, R., Rodriguez; Toro,

  Garrincha, Vavà, Rojas; Ramirez,

  Amarildo, Zagalo. Landa, Tobar,

  Sanchez, L.

  SCORERS

  Garrincha (2), Vavà (2) for Brazil

  Toro, Sanchez, L. (penalty) for Chile

  HT 2/1

  Viña del Mar

  Czechoslovakia 3 Yugoslavia 1

  Schroiff; Lala, Novak; Soskic; Durkovic,

  Pluskal, Popluhar, Jusufi; Radakovic,

  Masopust; Pospichal Markovic, Popovic;

  Scherer, Kvasniak, Sujakovic, Sekularac,

  Kadraba, Jelinek. Jerkovic, Galic,

  Skoblar..

  SCORERS

  Kadraba, Scherer (2) for Czechoslovakia

  Jerkovic for Yugoslavia

  HT 0/0

  Third place match

  Santiago

  Chile 1 Yugoslavia 0

  Godoy; Eyzaguirre, Soskic; Durkovic

  Cruz, Sanchez, R., Svinjarevic;

  Rodriguez; Toro, Rojas; Radakovic, Markovic,

  Ramirez, Campos, Popovic; Kovacevic,

  Tobar, Sanchez, L. Sekularac, Jerkovic,

  Galic, Skoblar.