This left Scotland on three points, Brazil on two, but since Brazil were bound to beat Zaire, who had crashed 9–0 to Yugoslavia, Scotland knew they had to beat the Slavs. Alas, they hadn’t the attack to do so. Indeed, lack of commitment to attack was their undoing. Not enough was risked, while in the midfield, Kenny Dalglish, of Celtic, greatly disappointing, survived when he should have been replaced.
Permissive refereeing by a Turk did not help Scotland in the heat of Frankfurt, and they fell a goal behind when Dzajic, on the right, cleverly spun past his man and centred, for Karasi to head past the resilient David Harvey. Scotland vigorously fought back, a corkscrew run by Hutchinson, who had belatedly substituted for Dalglish, brought the equaliser for Joe Jordan, but it was not enough. Brazil beat Zaire 3–0, the third and deciding goal by Valdomiro rolling under the goalkeeper’s body; and the Scots were out, though with considerable credit.
The Surviving Groups
The two surviving groups were composed, respectively, of Holland, Brazil, Argentina and East Germany, and West Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia and Sweden.
It was quickly clear that the East Germans had shot their bolt. In Hanover they lost their opening match against Brazil to a second-half goal by Rivelino, inevitably from a free kick. Jairzinho stood on the end of the East German ‘wall’ and ducked as Rivelino’s shot swerved wickedly in.
Argentina, alas, had to play Holland without Babington, who had mindlessly handled the ball deliberately not once but twice in the Italian game. He thus acquired three cautions and was rendered ineligible. Any chance Argentina might have had of containing the brilliant Dutch was lost. They were simply overrun; a dreadful foul by Perfumo on Neeskens was the measure of his and his team’s frustration. Heavy rain in the second half was the saviour of Argentina, who would probably have lost still more heavily than 4–0. The electric Cruyff scored two of the goals himself, and made a headed goal for Johnny Rep.
In their next game—again at Gelsenkirchen—Cruyff found himself diligently marked by Weise, but Rensenbrink made a left-footed goal for Neeskens after nine minutes, scored a second himself, and Holland now faced Brazil, the holders, in the decisive match.
The Brazilians had beaten Argentina 2–1 in an all-South-American match at Hanover, the first time these famous rivals had ever met in the World Cup. Their decisive match, at Dortmund, was a sorry affair, redeemed by Holland’s two marvellous winning goals in the second half. The Brazilian defence kicked, chopped and hacked from the first; and it must be said that the Dutch, thus provoked, returned the treatment with interest. Twice Brazil should have scored when the Dutch offside trap broke down, but first Paulo Cesar, then Jairzinho, missed palpable chances.
In the first half, Neeskens was knocked cold by Mario Marinho. In the second, he was scythed down by Luis Pereira, who was sent off by the unimpressive West German referee, Herr Tschenscher. Pereira could have no complaints, yet he had undeniably been one of the best defenders in the tournament; a tall, strong, mobile player of impressive authority.
Holland’s goals redeemed the game, marvellous in their lightning simplicity. First Neeskens dashed down the middle, found Cruyff on the right and lobbed the swift, immaculate return over Leao’s head, then Cruyff superbly volleyed home Krol’s left-wing centre. Holland were in the Final.
The West Germans made heavier weather of it; and weather, indeed, was at the root of their victory over Poland. The weather was bad, though not as bad, in their exciting match against Sweden in Dusseldorf when Edstroem—a gorgeous volley—and Sandberg scored splendid goals, but West Germany’s power, Bonhof rampant, eventually wore down the Swedish defence.
In their opening game West Germany, in Dusseldorf, had resumed their long World Cup dialogue with Yugoslavia. Dzajic, it was said, was displeased with Miljanic’s defensive tactics. West Germany dominated play. Another of Paul Breitner’s fulminating drives gave them the lead, after thirty-eight minutes and Muller scored the second after the blond, 22-year-old Uli Hoeness, at last showing his true ability, had got to the line and crossed. Franz Beckenbauer, at last, was in majestic form.
The Poles also won their first two games, but with little to spare. They were very lucky to get the better of Sweden, who overplayed them in the opening stages, shrewdly prompted by Grahn and Larsson in midfield, when Tapper and Grahn missed easy chances. In the second half, Tapper also missed a penalty, though Tomaszewski probably moved before the kick. So it was that Lato in the first half got the only goal; a cross by Gadocha, goal maker now rather than scorer, a header by Szarmach, another by Lato.
Then Poland beat Yugoslavia in Frankfurt, but might not have done so had Karasi not lost his head and felled Szarmach, who had been shoving him. Deyna opened the score from the penalty spot, Karasi atoned by whirling through the Polish defence to equalise, but the Lato-Gadocha combination again brought victory—Gadocha’s corner, Lato’s near-post header. Yugoslavia, though were without Dzajic.
Thus the decisive game was that between the Poles and West Germans in Frankfurt. A rainstorm made the pitch unplayable, but the Germans drew off the water as best they could, postponed the start and played. They won thanks to their superior strength. Yet only a staggering double save by Maier in the first half from—inevitably—first Lato, then Gadocha kept the German goal intact. In the second half, Tomaszewski saved another penalty, from Hoeness. The winning goal came when Hoeness’s shot was deflected to ‘The Bomber’, Gerd Muller, who does not miss such chances.
The Final West Germany v. Holland
So the Final, very properly as it seemed, would be between West Germany and Holland. West Germany had home advantage, Holland had the more imagination. It was hard not to polarise the contest into one of personalities; Beckenbauer against Cruyff, unquestionably the game’s greatest players now Pelé had gone.
So far, Cruyff had plainly surpassed Beckenbauer on the field. Though he himself denied that he was particularly fast, insisting that it was a matter of when he accelerated, what fascinated the observer was not only his originality, but his amazing speed of thought and execution. Muller might be the goal-scoring machine par excellence, still deadly, despite those who felt he had passed his peak, but Cruyff was immensely more versatile, capable of roaming the field like his idol, Di Stefano, now goal maker, now scorer, slim, long legged, almost gawky, yet superbly elegant in motion.
Who would mark him? Udo Lattek, Bayern’s manager, said, ‘I know that Bonhof will kill Cruyff.’ The general view, however, was that he would be marked (as he was) by Berti Vogts, the tenacious blond fullback, who had once, long ago, played him out of the game in a youth tournament.
What seemed clear to some of us was that the Dutch would need to score a minimum of three goals since their inadequate defence seemed almost certain to concede a couple. Could they get them? The answer to that seemed implicit in another question: could the Germans stop Cruyff ?
On the previous day, Poland won a deadly dull Third Place Match against Brazil, jeered by a justifiably disappointed crowd; Lato, predictably, was the scorer. Ademir Da Guia, the blond mulatto, son of Domingas Da Guia who had played in the 1938 tournament, at last got a World Cup game and strolled shrewdly about before he was substituted, personifying a Brazilian school which was now hopelessly outmoded, as Deyna’s immensely quicker, more effective, performance in the Polish midfield showed.
No World Cup Final has had such a sensational beginning as this: a penalty awarded, a goal scored, virtually before a German player had touched the ball. Holland kicked off and played almost insolent possession football, to the incensed whistling of the crowd, then suddenly and convulsively broke away. Cruyff, who had dropped behind the forward line, began a long, almost breathtakingly ambitious run, swerved round Vogts as though he wasn’t there, raced on into the penalty area and there was tripped by the desperate leg of Hoeness. Penalty.
Neeskens, of course, took it, banging his right-footed shot between Maier and the right-hand post as Maier moved to the left.
It was a vibrantly dramatic moment and one which seemed so sure to decide the match, whatever one may now say with hindsight, that the Dutch were tempted to relax, moved to play cat and mouse with an opponent which, for historical reasons, they longed to humiliate. For twenty-five minutes the Dutch did as they pleased against a stunned German team, rolling the ball about, making pretty patterns, but creating no real opportunities. Dangerous indulgence against a host team; and so it was that West Germany got off the hook—with another penalty.
Young Holzenbein, a left-winger who, like Bonhof, had come into the team only with the second stage, took chief credit for the goal. Taking a neat pass from Overath, he set off up the wing, Breitner running inside him, scorned the easy option, cut into the penalty area, beat his man and was tripped by Jansen. Breitner, full of confidence, scored from the penalty and the tide had turned.
West Germany now exultantly carried the fight to Holland; even Vogts left Cruyff, whom he was now playing so effectively, to put in a searing shot, which Jongbloed saved one-handed. Then Hoeness, devastating in his long controlled runs and sudden bursts, had beaten Suurbier and rolled the ball past Jongbloed for the excellent Rijsbergen to kick out of the goalmouth. Beckenbauer’s was the next attempt, a cunning lob from a free kick, which Jongbloed clawed over the bar.
Yet the decisive moment surely came when Holland broke away and caught the West German defence hopelessly undermanned, so much so that Cruyff and Rep together descended on Beckenbauer. Cruyff did everything he should, drawing his famous rival, then giving the ball sweetly to Rep. But Rep hadn’t the skill to score; Maier saved boldly at his feet and, were we to know it, Holland had lost the Cup.
After forty-three minutes, the Dutch defence wilted again and Gerd Muller scored his sixty-eighth goal for West Germany; the most important of them all.
Grabowski began the movement with a pass up the right to Bonhof, whose speed and power took him past Haan on the outside. Hulshoff would no doubt have stopped him, but Hulshoff wasn’t there and when the ball came over, Muller contrived to drag it back into his path with one foot and sweep it past Jongbloed with the other.
In the second half Holland had to substitute Rensenbrink, whose pulled muscle had made him doubtful initially and had clearly handicapped him and his team. Van de Kerkhof, the tall young forward who replaced him, would almost give Holland the equaliser when his long, straightforward cross from the left looped over all the German defence, and was ferociously met on the volley by Neeskens on the far post. Somehow Maier managed to block it.
Rijsbergen, too, hurt in a tackle by Muller in the first half, had to go off, giving way to De Jong, little Jansen dropping into the back four to look after Muller. When he brought down Holzenbein for the second time in the game, there might have been another penalty, while film has seemed to show that Muller was not offside when he ran through the Dutch defence to beat Jongbloed. For all that, Jack Taylor, the English referee, made a fine fist of the match and was very brave to give that first-minute penalty while Holland themselves scarcely deserved to lose more heavily.
So West Germany won the Cup in one of the most enigmatic of all Finals. Was Holland’s penalty a poisoned gift? Would they have done better without it? Was Rensenbrink’s injury decisive? All one could say with certainty was that it had been an immeasurably more dramatic Final than 1970’s and that if West Germany had taken the Cup then Holland, surely, had been the most attractive and talented of all losers.
There may have been some significance in the fact that their inside-left, Wim Van Hanagem, the slowest man in the team, was that day palpably the best.
RESULTS: West Germany 1974
Group I
West Germany 1, Chile 0 (HT 0/0)
East Germany 2, Australia 0 (HT 0/0)
West Germany 3, Australia 0 (HT 2/0)
East Germany 1, Chile 1 (HT 0/0)
East Germany 1, West Germany 0 (HT 1/0)
Chile 0, Australia 0 (HT 0/0)
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
East Germany 3 2 1 0 4 1 5
West Germany 3 2 0 1 4 1 4
Chile 3 0 2 1 1 2 1
Australia 3 0 1 2 0 5 1
Group II
Brazil 0, Yugoslavia 0 (HT 0/0)
Scotland 2, Zaire 0 (HT 2/0)
Brazil 0, Scotland 0 (HT 0/0)
Yugoslavia 9, Zaire 0 (HT 6/0)
Scotland 1, Yugoslavia 1 (HT 0/0)
Brazil 3, Zaire 0 (HT 1/0)
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Yugoslavia 3 1 2 0 10 1 4
Brazil 3 1 2 0 3 0 4
Scotland 3 1 2 0 3 1 4
Zaire 3 0 0 3 0 14 0
Group III
Holland 2, Uruguay 0 (HT 1/0)
Sweden 0, Bulgaria 0 (HT 0/0)
Holland 0, Sweden 0 (HT 0/0)
Bulgaria 1, Uruguay 1 (HT 0/0)
Holland 4, Bulgaria 1 (HT 2/0)
Sweden 3, Uruguay 0 (HT 0/0)
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Holland 3 2 1 0 6 1 5
Sweden 3 1 2 0 3 0 4
Bulgaria 3 0 2 1 2 5 2
Uruguay 3 0 1 2 1 6 1
Group IV
Italy 3, Haiti 1 (HT 0/0)
Poland 3, Argentina 2 (HT 2/0)
Italy 1, Argentina 1 (HT 1/1)
Poland 7, Haiti 0 (HT 5/0)
Argentina 4, Haiti 1 (HT 2/0)
Poland 2, Italy 1 (HT 2/0)
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Poland 3 3 0 0 12 3 6
Argentina 3 1 1 1 7 5 3
Italy 3 1 1 1 5 4 3
Haiti 3 0 0 3 2 14 0
Group A
Brazil 1, East Germany 0 (HT 0/0)
Holland 4, Argentina 0 (HT 2/0)
Holland 2, East Germany 0 (HT 1/0)
Brazil 2, Argentina 1 (HT 1/1)
Holland 2, Brazil 0 (HT 0/0)
Argentina 1, East Germany 1 (HT 1/1)
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
Holland 3 3 0 0 8 0 6
Brazil 3 2 0 1 3 3 4
East Germany 3 0 1 2 1 4 1
Argentina 3 0 1 2 2 7 1
Group B
Poland 1, Sweden 0 (HT 1/0)
West Germany 2, Yugoslavia 0 (HT 1/0)
Poland 2, Yugoslavia 1 (HT 1/1)
West Germany 4, Sweden 2 (HT 0/1)
Sweden 2, Yugoslavia 1 (HT 0/0)
West Germany 1, Poland 0 (HT 0/0)
GOALS
P W D L F A Pts
West Germany 3 3 0 0 7 2 6
Poland 3 2 0 1 3 2 4
Sweden 3 1 0 2 4 6 2
Yugoslavia 3 0 0 3 2 6 0
Third place match
Munich
Poland 1 Brazil 0
Tomaszewski; Leao; Ze Maria,
Szymanowski, Gorgon, Alfredo, Marinho, M.,
Zmuda, Musial; Marinho, F.; Paulo
Kasperczak Cesar Carpeggiani,
(Cmikiewicz), Deyna, Rivelino, Ademir da,
Masczyk; Lato, Guia (Mirandinha);
Szarmach (Kapka), Valdomiro, Jairzinho,
Gadocha. Dirceu.
SCORER
Lato for Poland
HT 0/0
Final
Munich
West Germany 2 Holland 1
Maier; Beckenbauer; Jongbloed; Suurbier,
Vogts, Schwarzenbeck, Rijsbergen, (De Jong),
Breitner; Bonhof, Haan, Krol; Jansen,
Hoeness, Overath; Neeskens, Van
Grabowski, Muller, Hanegem; Rep,
Holzenbein. Cruyff, Rensenbrink
(Van de Kerkhof, R.).
SCORERS
Breitner (penalty), Muller for West Germany
Neeskens (penalty) for Holland
HT 2/1
ARGENTINA
1978
Fears About Argentina
The 1978 World Cup, though altogether less disastrous in actuality than it was in prospect, nevertheless left behind it a sour taste and a welter of controversy. Ecstasy and euphori
a greeted Argentina’s triumph within Argentina itself. Elsewhere, there was less elation. As the defeated Dutch bitterly said, it’s unlikely that Argentina’s team could have won the tournament anywhere but at home. Giovanni Trapattoni, manager of Turin’s Juventus club, who attended the tournament, went even further. He believed that elsewhere Argentina would not even have survived the first round.
There were good reasons for such scepticism, good reasons for disappointment in a tournament whose level did not remotely approach that of 1974, whose Final was an ill-tempered, abominably refereed game, and whose whole course was marred and scarred by questionable refereeing.
Such feelings were given special pungency by the nature of Argentina’s regime: a military dictatorship, its junta led by General Jorge Videla. For more than a year before the World Cup matches began, great opposition was expressed, above all in Western Europe and particularly by the Amnesty International organisation, to the holding of the Cup in Argentina. Since the junta took power in 1976, thousands of people had disappeared, thousands had been murdered and tortured. The moral aspect aside, there was the question of whether the safety of players could be guaranteed. West Germany in 1974, with the threat of the Arab terrorists, had been bad enough. In Argentina the threat came from within. There were serious doubts, moreover about whether stadia and communications would be ready in time. The previous, Peronist, Government had dragged its feet. The military junta had set up a new body, the Ente Autarquico Mundial, to speed proceedings but its task was monumental. Moreover its chief, General Omar Actis, had been assassinated en route to his first Press conference.
The Story of the World Cup Page 24
