The World Cup 1970 in Mexico
Brazil and England the two most favored nations, were both unluckily drawn in the same first-round group. Brazil won a titanic match 1-0 with a goal from Jairzinho- who went on to make World Cup history by scoring in every round in the finals. This was perhaps Brazil's finest team of them all. Pele was fully fit again and at his inspirational best. Against Czechoslovakia in the first round he nearly scored from a long shot from inside his own half after spotting the keeper way off his line. In Brazil's semi-final victory over Uruguay, Pele pulled off a wonderful "wrong way" dummy around the Uruguayan goalkeeper.
England's World Cup defense ended in the quarter-finals. Goalkeeper Gordon Banks was taken ill on the eve of the match against old rivals West Germany in Leon. This did not appear a problem when England surged into a two-goal lead. But deputy Peter Bonetti's lack of match practice in the conditions proved significant when Germany fought back to win 3-2 in extra time with goals from Beckenbaur, veteran skipper Uwe Seeler and tournament top scorer Gerd Muller.
The efforts West Germany put in to win that game counted against them in a wonderful semifinal against Italy. Again the Germans took the match into extra time but this time it was the Italians who triumphed, by 4-3 to reach the final.
In the final, as waves of Brazilian attacks came in to the background beat of a samba rhythm, Italy were showing clear signs of fatigue and were eventually overrun as Brazil achieved the first World Cup hat-trick. The match finished 4-1 to brazil with goals from Pele, Jairzinho, Gerson and the captain Carlos Alberto. The Italian goal was scored by Bonisgnia. The game was watched live by an audience of 107,000 people inside the stadium and by millions on the television screen. Those World Cup Finals will long remain the best games I have ever seen in my short life on this planet. The two teams that day were Brazil: Felix, Carlos Alberto, Brito, Wilson Piazza, Everaldo, Clodoaldo, Gerson, Rivelino, Jairzinho, Tostao and Pele. The Italian team was: Albertosi, Burgnich, Cera, Rosato, Facchetti, Bertini(Juliano), Domenghini, De Sisti, Mazzola, Bonisegnia(Rivera) and Riva.
The Players:
Pele: Brazil
Born 21st October1940, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele remains one of those great examples and inspirations of World Sport. A poor boy whose talent lifted him to the peaks of achievement, fame and fortune, yet who, amidst all that, retained his innate sense of sportsmanship, his love of his calling and the respect of team mates and opponents alike. His father Dondinho had been a useful footballer in the 1940's, but his career had been ended prematurely by injury. He was his son's first coach and his first supporter. Most Brazilian footballers are known by their nicknames. Pele does not know the origin of his own tag. He recalled only that he did not like it and was in trouble at school for fighting with class mates who called him Pele. Later, of course, it became the most familiar name in world sport.
Pele's teenage exploits as a player with his local club, Bauru, earned him a transfer to Santos at the age of 15. Rapidly he earned National and then International recognition. At 16 he was playing for Brazil, at 17 he was winning the World Cup. Yet it took pressure from his team mates to persuade National Manager Vicente Feola to throw him into the action in Sweden in 1958. Santos were not slow to recognise the potential offered their club by Pele. The directors created a sort of circus, touring the world, playing two and three times a week for lucrative match fees. The income form this gave the club the financial leverage to buy a supporting cast which helped turn santos into World Clubs Champions in 1962 and 1963.
The pressure on Pele was reflected in injuries, one of which restricted him to only a peripheral role at the 1962 World Cup Finals. He scored a marvelous solo gal against Mexico in the first round, but pulled a muscle and missed the rest of the tournament. Brazil, even without him, went on to retain the Jules Rimet Trophy. In 1966 Pele lead Brazil in England. But referees were unprepared to give players of skill and creativity the necessary protection. One of the saddest images of the tournament was Pele, a raincoat around his shoulders, leaving the pitch after being kicked out of the tournament by Portugal. Brazil, this time, did not possess the same strength in depth as in 1962 and crashed out. Four years later Pele took his revenge in the most glorious way. As long as the game is played, the 1970 World Cup Finals will be revered as the apotheosis of a great player, not only at his very best, but achieving the rewards his talent deserved. As a 17 year old Pele had scored one of the most unforgettable World Cup goals in the Final against Sweden- in 1970 he twice nearly surpassed it. First, against Czechoslovakia, he just missed scoring with a shot from his own half of the field, and against Uruguay he sold an outrageous dummy to the goalkeeper and just missed again.
It says everything about Pele's transcending genius that he was the one man able to set light to soccer in the United States in the 1970's. Although the North American Soccer League eventually collapsed amidst financial confusion, soccer was by that stage firmly established as a grass roots American sport. Without Pele's original allure that could never have happened and the capture of host rights for the 1994 finals would never have been possible.
Luigi Riva: Italy
Born: 7th November 1944, Italy. Riva is remembered as one of the finest strikers in Italian football history. Orphaned in early childhood, he made a teenage reputation with Third Division Legnano as a left-winger and was signed by Second Division Sardinian club Cagliari in 1963. Riva's formidable left foot and nose for goal sent Cagliari rocketing out of the shadows to league championship success in 1970. Riva was top league marksmen three times, including the 1969/70 season when he scored 21 goals in 28 games. His 35 goals in 42 Internationals meant Riva bore much of the responsibility for Italy's World Cup challenge in 1970. He scored three times in the quarter and semifinal defeats of Mexico and West Germany before Italy's defeat in the Final. Complications stemming from two broken legs ultimately enforced a premature retirement.
Franz Beckenbaur: West Germany
"Kaiser Franz" made history as the only man to win the World Cup as both captain ( in 1974) and then manager (in 1990). Beckenbaur made his finals debut in 1966 in midfield but later, with Bayern Munich, moved back to revolutionise the role of sweeper. His total of 103 caps was for years a German record.
Giacinto Facchetti: Italy
Born July 18th 1942 Italy. Full back was never a romantic role until the revolutionary emergence of Facchetti in the early 1960's. He had been a big, strapping centre forward with his local club in Treviso when he was signed by Inter Milan and converted into a left back by master coach Helenio Herrera. The rigid man-to-man marking system perfected by Herrera permitted Facchetti the freedom, when Inter attacked, to stride upfield in support of his own forward's. Facchetti scored 60 league goals, a record for a full back in Italy, including 10 in the 1965/66 season. But his most important goal was reserved for the 1965 European Cup semi-finals when he burst through in the inside right position to score a decisive winning goal against Liverpool. Later Facchetti switched to sweeper, from which position he captained Italy against Brazil in the 1970 World Cup final. He would surely have taken his total of 94 caps to 100 but for an injury before the 1978 World Cup finals.
Gianni Rivera: Italy
Born: 18th August 1943 Italy The "Bambino d'Oro", the Golden Boy: that was Rivera in the early 1960's. As a creative inside forward he had the lot: skill, pace and a deft shot, plus the rare natural gift of grace. Rivera in full flight was football poetry in motion. Milan paid Alessandria £65,000 for a half share in the 15-year-old Rivera and signed him "for real" in 1960. In 16 years with the "Rossoneri" he was twice a winner of the World Club Cup, the European Cup and the Italian league, as well as three times an Italian cup winner and once European Footballer of the Year, in 1969. Rivera became a controversial figure, however, as successive national managers struggled to build teams around him. Thus he played only the last 6 minutes of the 1970 World Cup Final - although his Italy career produced 14 goals in 60 games. On retiring Rivera turned to politics and became a member of the Italian parliament.