Posts from the ‘World Cup’ Category

1974 World Cup – Part 3

Part 3 of my 1974 World Cup series, written to celebrate my 10 years writing this Blog and 40 years to the month of me watching in awe men in coloured shirts kicking a football around on a tiny television screen in my front room.

1974 World Cup – Part 3

I remember almost every game was played in torrential rain and this was decades before covered seating and prawn sandwiches at half-time. For the television viewer sat at home, the soddy pitches and downpours only made the games more exciting.

It was the Dutch who starred in the 1st Round. They arrived without any kind of fanfare after struggling through the qualification stages, and having no previous Finals pedigree. The Oranje’s last appearance at a Finals was in the 1930’s, but the appointment of Barcelona manager Rinus Michels as coach just three months before the tournament was the catalyst for this momentous side of 1974.

Michels was a former Ajax coach and he built his team around the stars of the all-conquering Ajax club side and they cut a swathe through the group stages, their unique and spellbinding brand of ‘Total Football,’ had fans around the world looking on in awe and in the process won the hearts of a whole new generation of football fans.
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1974 World Cup – Part 4

Part 4 of my 1974 World Cup series, which I wrote to commemorate 10 years of this Blog and 40 years to the month of me watching in awe men in coloured shirts, particularly those in orange, introducing me to the beautiful game.

1974 World Cup – Part 4

In the 2nd round Group A was comprised of Argentina, Brazil, East Germany and Holland, with the glorious East Germans now finding themselves in an impossible group despite overcoming their neighbours in the 1st Round to top Group 1.

Poland, Sweden, West Germany and Yugoslavia were in Group B and with no semi-finals, the teams who finished top of their respective groups would go straight through to the World Cup Final.

Brazil began with something approaching their old swagger, beating East Germany 1-0, then Argentina 2-1, but they were on a different planet to the Netherlands as the second stage saw the Oranje really get into gear.

My young eyes watched wide open as Cruyff was at his mercurial best. First of all they hammered Argentina 4-0 in Gelsenkirchen, then eased past the East Germans and then compounded the new world order of international football by soundly beating the Brazilians, who had Luis Periera sent off. Mind you Brazil could have had 12 men, they could not get near the Dutch as Neeskens and Cruyff scored two memorable goals to put them into the Final.

Meanwhile, in Group B slowly but surely the West Germans had finally started to click. Spurred on by an inspirational Franz Beckenbauer, they beat Yugoslavia 2-0 and Sweden 4-2 to set up a crucial decider with Poland, a match the West Germans only needed to draw.

The Poles were good though with Grzegorz Lato sublime. They looked strong in seeing off the challenges of Sweden and Yugoslavia and were yet to be defeated in the tournament and in Lato they had the Finals’ top scorer. He had scored a vital second-half winner in the 2-1 victory over Yugoslavia that brought Poland face-to-face with West Germany for a place in the final

So Netherlands’ opponents would be decided in the last group game. Torrential rain caused the kick-off to be delayed due to a waterlogged pitch, as the Frankfurt fire brigade were brought in to pump water from the quagmire. Poland’s best chances came in the first half, Robert Gadocha and the prolific Lato forcing Maier into a couple of excellent saves before Bayern Munich’s Gerd Müller snatched West Germany’s winner 14 minutes from time.

The 1974 World Cup Final was set.

In the 3rd Place play-off Poland beat a reputation-tarnished Brazilian team as Lato scored his 7th goal to confirm his golden boot status in Munich’s Olympiastadion a day before everyone’s favourites the Dutch were to take on the hosts West Germany.

Click on parts 1, 2 and 3.

1974 World Cup – Part 2

To continue my look back at 40 years as a football fan, I’ve delved deep into my memory bank and researched what made the 1974 World Cup such a special time of my life. Part 2 looks at the 16 teams that made up the Finals in West Germany

1974 World Cup – Part 2

Qualification began with 98 countries, with only 14 qualifying plus the hosts West Germany and the holders Brazil. To give you some context 203 countries attempted to qualify for this summer’s World Cup, and 32 will compete in Brazil.

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1974 World Cup – Part 1

To commemorate my 10 years of blogging and to reminisce why I fell in love with the beautiful game 40 years ago, I’m going to tell the story of the 1974 World Cup Finals. From memory, but helped by no little research.

1974 World Cup – Part 1

West Germany was chosen as the host nation by FIFA in London, in the week leading up to the 1966 World Cup Finals, in fact hosting rights for the 1978 and 1982 tournaments were also awarded at the same time. West Germany agreed a deal with Spain by which Spain would support West Germany for the 1974 tournament, and in return West Germany would allow Spain to bid for the 1982 World Cup unopposed.

West German football had come a long way since the end of WWII. Excluded from international football until 1950, with none of the three new German states, West Germany, East Germany and Saarland accepted into the 1950 World Cup qualifiers, yet just four years later the West Germans produced one of the competition’s biggest ever shocks by winning the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.
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