1970 FIFA World Cup

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The 1970 FIFA World Cup, the ninth staging of the World Cup, was held in Mexico, from May 31 to June 21. Mexico was chosen as hosts by FIFA in October 1964. The 1970 tournament was the first World Cup hosted in North America, and the first held outside South America and Europe. In a match-up of teams that had won the World Cup twice, the final was won by Brazil, who beat Italy 4-1. This means Brazil were the first three-time world champions and were allowed to keep the Jules Rimet Trophy permanently.

The Brazilian team, featuring the likes of Pelé (who was in his fourth and final World Cup), Carlos Alberto, Clodoaldo, Gérson, Jairzinho, Rivelino, and Tostão, is usually regarded as the greatest attacking World Cup team ever. This tournament saw the return of free-flowing, attacking play after the physical battles of 1962 and 1966, and is still considered by many fans to be the finest World Cup in history.

Qualification

A total of 75 teams entered the qualifying tournament. Those who failed to qualify included France, Portugal, Hungary, Argentina and Spain. Meanwhile, Morocco became the first African nation to reach the World Cup finals since the Second World War.

Summary

First Round

The 1970 World Cup is now remembered as a classic - but, as usual, the tournament was preceded by disputes over the organisation of the event. This World Cup was the first one to be televised in colour. However, to fit into the European viewing schedules, some matches kicked off at noon. This was an unpopular decision with many players and managers because of the intense heat in Mexico at that time of day.

The format of the competition stayed the same as 1966: 16 teams qualified, divided into four groups of four playing each other once in a round-robin format. There were no seeds, instead the organizers formed geographical ‘sections’ from which the four groups were drawn in Mexico City, on January 10, 1970. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals. However, for the first time in the World Cup finals, teams level on points at the end of the group stage were separated by goal difference (replacing play-offs and goal average) and where two or more teams had equal goal difference, by the drawing of lots. If a quarter-final or semi-final match resulted in a draw after extra time the referee would have drawn the name of the team to progress to the next round out of a hat.

For the first time, substitutions were allowed in World Cup play. Each team were allowed to make two substitutions during a match. The Soviet Union were the first team to make a substitution in World Cup history against Mexico in the opening match. Viktor Serebryanikov was the first player to be replaced, by Anatoly Puzach after 45 minutes.

This World Cup also featured the first ever use of yellow and red cards for cautions and expulsions respectively. (Note that cautions and expulsions already existed prior to 1970.) Five yellow cards were shown in the opening Mexico vs USSR match, while no red cards were given throughout the whole tournament.

Controversy surrounded the world cup before a ball was even kicked. For England, the build-up to the tournament took a bizarre turn when their captain was accused of theft. While England were in Colombia for a pre-tournament friendly, Bobby Moore was arrested for allegedly stealing a bracelet from a jeweller's shop. He was released on bail to allow him to appear in the World Cup finals, and the charges were later quietly dropped.

In Group 1, hosts Mexico lived up to the expectations of an entire nation by advancing along with the Soviet Union, though there was controversy over the home side's 1-0 victory over Belgium and their 4-0 win over El Salvador.

Group 2 of the opening round produced just six goals in six games as Uruguay, reigning South America champions, and the reigning European champions,Italy, prevail over Sweden and surprise qualifier Israel after a series of dull, uninspired games. Italy would, however, show the true measure of its talent in the knock-out phase.

The first great moments of this memorable World Cup happened in Group 3, where two-time former World champion Brazil were pooled with the current world champions England and solid European sides Czechoslovakia and Romania. In the rematch of the 1962 World Cup final, they fell behind early in their opening game against Czechoslovakia, but fought back strongly and eventually won 4-1. Pelé scored one of their goals, but a goal attempt that in which Pele audaciously attempted to lob a shot over Czechoslovak goalkeeper Ivo Viktor from the halfway line, missed the goal by a whisker. The "Clash of the Champions" between Brazil and England lived up to all expectations. The match is best remembered for a Pelé near-miss. His powerful close-range downward header was kept out by an amazing save from Gordon Banks, who somehow managed to get down to the ball and flick it upwards and over the bar. In the end, a single Jairzinho goal was enough to win the game for Brazil. Romania ran Brazil close in their third game, but were finally beaten 3-2. England joined Brazil with two 1-0 victories over Romania and Czechoslovakia.

In Group 4, Peru and its attacking style created a sensation by beating established side Bulgaria 3-2 after trailing 0-2 at halftime. Morocco also got off to a bright start, taking the lead against West Germany in their first match, but the Germans came back to win 2-1. West Germany also went behind against Bulgaria in their second match, but a Gerd Muller hat-trick helped them fight back to win 5-2. Muller hit another hat-trick in the Germans' last group game, scoring all their goals in a 3-1 win over Peru. In the end, Peru eventually advanced along with West Germany after scoring three times in 11 second-half minutes to beat Morocco 3-0.

Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and third-place match

The quarter-finals saw a transformed Italy prevail 4-1 over Mexico after trailing 0-1. The host took the lead against Italy with a Jose Gonzales goal, but his team-mate Gustavo Pena equalised with an own goal before half-time. Italy then took over, and dominated the second half. Two goals from Luigi Riva and one from Gianni Rivera saw them go through 4-1. In Guadalajara, Peru's World Cup adventure ended in the quarter-finals, where they lost 4-2 to Brazil after an entertaining match between two equally attacking teams.

The game between Uruguay and the Soviet Union was goalless until five minutes from the end of extra time, when Victor Esparrago struck to send the South Americans through. The last quarter-final, a rematch of the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany, produced one of the great matches of World Cup history. England suffered a serious blow before the game, when their great goalkeeper Gordon Banks was taken ill with food poisoning. His deputy Peter Bonetti stepped into the breach, and early in the second half England had a 2-0 lead and seemed to have West Germany firmly in its grasp. However, West Germany pulled one back with a goal from Beckenbauer in the 68th minute. In a panic, England coach Alf Ramsey decided then to substitute the tiring Bobby Charlton. Without Charlton, England lost its ability to set its own pace on the game and could not contain the relentless German attacks which eventually resulted in West Germany equalizing eight minutes from time with an Uwe Seeler header. Momentum had irrevocably shifted and West Germany avenged the 1966 final loss with Gerd Müller's winning goal in extra time after another Bonetti error, thus, ending England's reign as world champions.

The semi-finals featured an exciting final four, all four having won the World Cup in the past: Brazil vs Uruguay, in a rematch of the 1950 World Cup final, and Italy vs West Germany. In the all-South American match, Brazil managed to defeat Uruguay 3-1 despite falling behind 20 minutes into the match. The game was evenly matched for 70 minutes but the Uruguayans found Brazil's attack too much to overcome. This match also featured another bright moment by Pelé: upon holding possession near the box, he managed to rush all alone up to Uruguayan goalkeeper Ladislao Mazurkiewicz and, tipping the ball through his left side, the Brazilian ran through the right side, catching the ball on the run and then taking a shot to the empty goal. Unfortunately, Pelé missed by a sliver again. The other, all-European semi-final was regarded by many as the greatest World Cup game ever. Italy took a 1-0 lead through Roberto Boninsegna on 8 minutes after an excellent "one-two" combination with Luigi Riva. West Germany pressed to equalize for the rest of the game, until the very end when sweeper Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, then with Italy's AC Milan, scored in injury time. In extra time, Gerd Müller brought Germany the lead on 94 minutes before Italy defender Tarcisio Burgnich leveled the score with a rare international goal. On 104 minutes, Riva made it 3-2 past goalkeeper Sepp Maier, only for Müller to equalize six minutes later. Television cameras were still replaying this goal when Italy midfielder Gianni Rivera, left unmarked near the penalty spot, volleyed a fine Boninsegna cross past Maier for the winning goal in the 111th minute. Franz Beckenbauer sustained a broken clavicle after trying to gain a foul by diving during extra time. As Helmut Schön, the West German manager, had already used the two permitted substitutes, Beckenbauer stayed on with his arm in a sling. This match is regarded as the "Game of the Century", also known as the Partita del Secolo in Italy and Jahrhundertspiel in Germany. A monument at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City commemorates it. West Germany went on to win the 3rd place match against Uruguay (1-0).

Final

In the final, Brazil struck first, with Pelé heading in a cross by Revelino at the 18th minute. Roberto Boninsegna equalized for Italy after a blunder in the Brazilian defence. In the second half, Brazil's firepower and creativity was too much for an Italian side that clung to their cautious defensive system. Gérson fired in a powerful shot for the second goal, and then helped provide the third, with a long free kick to Pelé who headed down into the path of the onrushing Jairzinho. Pele capped his superb performance by drawing the Italian defence in the center and feeding captain Carlos Alberto on the right flank for the final score. Carlos Alberto's goal, after a series of moves by the Brazilian team from the left to the center, is considered one of the greatest goals ever scored in the history of the tournament. This victory consecrated the first tri-campeão (three-time champions) in football history.

With this third win after 1958 and 1962, Brazil earned the right to retain the Jules Rimet Trophy permanently. (Ironically, it was stolen in 1983 while on display in Rio de Janeiro and never recovered.) Brazilian coach Mário Zagallo was the first footballer to become World Cup champion as a player (1958, 1962) and a coach, and Pelé ended his World Cup playing career as the first (and so far only) three-time winner.

Brazilian right winger Jairzinho scored at least one goal in each of the six games that Brazil played (in the first game, against Czechoslovakia, he scored two), a feat which has never been repeated. However, the top scorer of the tournament was West Germany's Gerd Müller, with an impressive 10 goals in the competition. Müller incredibly scored hat-tricks in two consecutive games, against Bulgaria and Peru in the group stage.