Tag Archives: World Cup recall

“Three people have silenced the Maracanã,” Uruguay’s right-winger Alcides Ghiggia boasts to a BBC interviewer, “Frank Sinatra, the Pope and me.” It is 16 July 1950 in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil are up against their South American neighbours in the final match of the fourth Fifa Mundial. The Maracanã is …

One win away from finally being crowned world champions, West Germany, European champions and the most consistent World Cup performers over two decades, arrive at 7 July 1974. Standing in their way, they find the Netherlands and the man everyone expects to succeed Pelé as the world’s number one player, …

West Germany also made a confident start in the second round. They began their Group B campaign by seeing off Yugoslavia, with goals in either half from Paul Breitner and Gerd Muller.  On the same day, a Grzegorz Lato header gave Poland victory over Sweden in a very tight contest. …

As the business end of 1974 World Cup loomed, for the sentimentalists, the field of title contenders still included Brazil. But for most, it had thinned to three: The Netherlands, hosts West Germany and upstarts Poland. And like in a good shoot-’em-up western, the main characters were all nervously eyeing …

“Penalty! Holland have a penalty! And we are still in the opening minute of this long-awaited World Cup final!” In many ways, the amazing 10th Fifa World Cup in 1974 bore an uncanny resemblance to its 1954 counterpart. In Germany like in Switzerland, Fifa played the second round as a …

Which football lover cannot instantly put the following 45 words into context? None worthy of the tag.  Rushing off his line intent on claiming the descending ball, England’s Peter Shilton got to it before Maradona’s head. But not first, not before Dieguito’s fist. The gifted midfielder’s hand went up, striking …

For the confident Magyars, the early going in the 1954 Finals could not have been easier. Seeded top in Group Two, they dismissed debutants South Korea 9-0. Then, with the West Germans weakened by separation from the communist East, they put on an 8-3 clinic against them, Sandor Kocsis helping …

“[…] Let us begin with Fritz Walter, who would lead the Germans into battle in the final in the Swiss capital in 1954. A decade and a half earlier, the Germans had won the early battles and the Hungarians had been made to suffer after the outbreak of  World War …