By 1968 the tournament had become more established and been renamed the European Championship. Instead of playing knock-out matches for qualification a group qualification was introduced with four teams in each group. The winners of each group would go on to knock-out quarterfinals (home and away) after which the four teams of the final tournament would be found.
Still, some changes were not made. By 1968 it was no longer deemed possible to play an extra match in case of a tie, except for the final. Without penalty kicks or extra time, knock-out outcomes were decided on coin toss.
And this was the only time this happened when the home team of Italy won its semi-final. To get to the semifinals Italy had won a group ahead of Romania, Switzerland and Cyprus, and then defeated Bulgaria in the quarterfinals. The semi-final against the USSR ended 0-0, and the Italian captain's call for tails gave the home side the place in the final.
Despite the random nature of their victory Italy had a strong side that surely belonged to the best in the world. On goal was Dino Zoff, from Napoli, who would go on to become the most legendary goalkeeper in Italian football. The Inter fullback Giacinto Facchetti captained the side, complemented by some outstanding defenders: Inter's Tarciso Burgnich, AC Milan's Roberto Rosato and the Juventus veteran Sandro Salvatore. Although largely focused on the defensive the team possessed a powerful counter-attacking force with Inter's Alessandro Mazzola, Inter's Angelo Domenghini and Cagliari's Luigi Riva. Italy was nevertheless weakened before the final as AC Milan's strong striker Gianni Rivera and Juventus star defender, Giancarlo Bercellino were both injured. Also, the coach Feruzzio Valcareggi had chosen to play without either Mazzola or Riva for the final against Yugoslavia.
To get to the final the Yugoslav side had defeated West German and Albania in the group stages and then trashed France in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals Yugoslavia had played the defending world champions of England, who had been full of expectations about European success (defeating the defending European champions of Spain in the quarterfinals), but Yugoslavia had won 1-0 on a late goal by the Red Star Belgrade legend Dragan Dzajic.
Dzajic was not the only star of the team. Hajduk Split's Dragan Holcer and FK Partizan's Blagoje Paunovic. OFK Belgrade's Ilja Petkovic and FK Sarajevo's Vahidin Musemic were the creative forces behind the attack where Dzajic was the undisputed star.
Yugoslavia had shown they could take on everyone, and had nothing to fear when facing the Italian hosts at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. Without Bercellino and Rivera Italy looked to be struggling and Yugoslavia went ahead only ten minutes into the first half when Djazic got his toe on the ball surrounded by three Italian defenders. In the second half Italy pressed forward, and finally got the equalizer in the 80th minute when Domenghini scored on a free kick that seemed to go through the Yugoslav defensive wall. The intensely fought match ended 1-1 after an extra time where Yugoslavia fought bordering violent, for the victory.
At the end, it seemed Italians were the most relieved to get 1-1.
As penalty kicks had not been introduced yet, a re-match was scheduled for two days later. While Yugoslavia played with almost the same team (only Idriz Hosic replaced an injured Ilija Petkovic), Valcareggi made some important changes to his side: Mazzola replaced a poor Giovanni Lodetti while Riva replaced Pierino Pratti in attack. Also in defense Valcareggi introduced two new players. These changes made all the difference giving the Italian side more depth in defense and creative power up front. Also, as the match started Italy seemed less affected by the fight of two days before. It was exactly Riva who bought Italy ahead after 12 minutes when he picked up a poor shot by Domenghini and placed the ball around the goalkeeper. Yugoslavia seemed unable to pick up from two days before and twenty minutes later the young Juventus striker Pietro Anastasi made it 2-0 on an elegant volley from the edge of the area.
This in reality sealed Italy's victory as the home team retreated to an intelligent defense. In fact, Riva should have scored a couple of more goals, missing some great chances on counter-attacks. Still, this did not take away that Italy had won a well-deserved victory after the coin's luck got them to the final. Two years later almost the same Italian side would make it to the World Cup final, only to be defeated by the mighty Brazilians.
Rome, 10th June 1968,
Stadio Olimpico
Attendance: 32,000
Referee: Jose Maria Ortiz de Mendibil (Spain)
Italy-Yugoslavia 2-0
Italy: Dino Zoff; Tarcisio Burgnich, Giacinto Facchetti (c), Aristide Guarneri, Roberto Rosato, Sandro Salvadore, Giancarlo De Sisti, Sandro Mazzola, Pietro Anastasi, Angelo Domenghini, Luigi Riva. Coach: Feruccio Valcareggi
Yugoslavia: Ilija Pantelić; Mirsad Fazlagić (c), Blagoje Paunović, Dragan Holcer, Milan Damjanović, Dobrivoje Trivić, Miroslav Pavlović, Jovan Aćimović, Idriz Hošić, Vahidin Musemić, Dragan Džajić. Coach: Rajko Mitic
Goals:
1-0 Riva (12)
2-0 Anastasi (31)
Showing posts with label Gigi Riva. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gigi Riva. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Friday, December 04, 2009
Greatest World Cup Matches: West Germany-Italy (1970)
West Germany entered the 1970 World Cup in Italy with a strong team of quite experienced players. Among them was Franz Beckenbauer, who only 25 years old already was one of the most experienced and established players in international football. The team was still captained by the legendary Uwe Seeler, who was playing his last World Cup, while the Bayern Munich striker Gerd Müller had seemed unstoppable, scoring seven goals in the first three matches, which the Germans won against Peru, Bulgaria and Morocco.
In the quarterfinals West Germany had played England, in a repeat of the 1966 final. This time though, the Germans were better prepared against an English team that was arguably better than it had been in 1966, but was apparently not well-adapted to the intense Mexican atmosphere. Also, Coach Alf Ramsey made obvious tactical changes when England could have carried the match away. In the end, West Germany won 3-2 after extra time, on a Gerd Müller goal.
This was only the second time England lost to West Germany, and as has happened so much since, the English swam over in references to the war.
Italy had not had good results for the World Cup for many years, but under coach Feruccio Valccareggi had built up a very strong team playing the reputed “Catenaccio” style, around a highly organised and very strong defense. The midfield led by AC Milan’s Gianni Rivera (who and 1969 had won the “Balon d’or” as best player of the year), and with powerful strikers, notably Gigi Riva from Cagliari (who is still the most scoring player in the history of the Italian national team). In 1968 Italy had won the European championship and was surely one of the best teams of the world at the time.
However, the Italians were not popular for their “catennaccio” style after their first round matches where they tied 0-0 with Uruguay and Israel, and defeated Sweden 1-0. In the quarterfinals they had nevertheless shown their attacking power against the hosts of Mexico, and won 4-1, and were now ready to the semifinal, where the winner would play the winner between Brazil and Uruguay.
The match in from of a full Azteca Stadium started well for the Italians: only eight minutes into the match the Inter striker Roberto Boninsegna got a return ball at the edge of the German area and resolutely shot and scored.
After this, Italy pulled back around its strong defense, and while the Germans had the ball the most, they were unable to open up the defense. It was frustrating for the many spectators as well as for the German players, to see the German team in possession and attacking, but unable to score. In particular Franz Beckenbauer was playing a strong match, and in the second half he dislocated his shoulder in a fearless tackle. However, unwilling to be substituted, the Bayern Munich star continued playing with a bandaged shoulder for the remainder of the match for what must have been a very painful sacrifice.
In the 90th minute of the match, the frantic German attacks finally paid off when the AC Milan defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (”Volkswagen”) suddenly found himself alone in front of the Italian goal on a cross by Jurgen Grabowski, and just had to put the foot on the ball, that went straight into the net. It was one of the few mistakes that the well-organized Italian defense had made.
West Germany had equalized and now seemed to have everything going for them as the match went into extra time.
Only four minutes later, Gerd Müller took advantage of a misunderstanding between the goalkeeper Enrico Albertosi and the defender Fabrizio Pelotti; when either decide to grab the ball, Gerd Müller quickly got in between them and squeezed the ball into goal for a German lead.
With the match completely turned on its head, it was now Italy’s turn to start attacking against the partly amputated German defense, and only four minutes later the Inter defender Tarcisio Burgnich scored after receiving a bounced off ball from a German defender. Another defensive mistake had equalized it for the Italians, who nevertheless continued attacking after the goal. At the end of the first half of the extra time, Gigi Riva was given too much space at the edge of the German area, and in spite of it not being a very hard shot, it was well-placed towards the far corner of the goal, and Sepp Maier had no chance.
The match had in fifteen minutes turned around twice!
Again it was West Germany’s time to attack as the teams went into the last fifteen minutes of the match, and after only a few minutes Gerd Müller scored to 3-3 on a header.
But the Italians, immediately when putting the ball into play, scored again, without the Germans even touching the ball: Boninsegna crossed the ball to a Gianni Rivera and the Milan striker made no mistake when carefully placing the ball perfectly behind Sepp Maier!
Anything seemed possible in this crazy semifinal, but it was the last goal of the extraordinary drama which Italy won 4-3 and put them in the World Cup final against Brazil.
An anecdote of this match tells that the guards at a prison near Acapulco, absorbed in the dramatic match on TV, didn’t notice the escape of 23 prisoners…
Surely one of the greatest World Cup dramas!
Match Stats:
Goals: 0-1 Boninsegna (8), 1-1 Schnellinger (90), 2-1 G. Muller (94), 2-2 Burgnich (98), 2-3 Riva (104), 3-3 G. Muller (110), 3-4 Rivera (111)
Teams:
West Germany: Maier; Schnellinger, Beckenbauer, Schulz, Vogts, Seeler, Overath, G. Muller, Patzke (Held), Loehr (Libuda), Grabowski
Italy: Albertosi; Burgnich, Facchetti, Cera, Rosato (Poletti), Bertini, Riva, Domenghini, Mazzola (Rivera), De Sisti, Boninsegna
In the quarterfinals West Germany had played England, in a repeat of the 1966 final. This time though, the Germans were better prepared against an English team that was arguably better than it had been in 1966, but was apparently not well-adapted to the intense Mexican atmosphere. Also, Coach Alf Ramsey made obvious tactical changes when England could have carried the match away. In the end, West Germany won 3-2 after extra time, on a Gerd Müller goal.
This was only the second time England lost to West Germany, and as has happened so much since, the English swam over in references to the war.
Italy had not had good results for the World Cup for many years, but under coach Feruccio Valccareggi had built up a very strong team playing the reputed “Catenaccio” style, around a highly organised and very strong defense. The midfield led by AC Milan’s Gianni Rivera (who and 1969 had won the “Balon d’or” as best player of the year), and with powerful strikers, notably Gigi Riva from Cagliari (who is still the most scoring player in the history of the Italian national team). In 1968 Italy had won the European championship and was surely one of the best teams of the world at the time.
However, the Italians were not popular for their “catennaccio” style after their first round matches where they tied 0-0 with Uruguay and Israel, and defeated Sweden 1-0. In the quarterfinals they had nevertheless shown their attacking power against the hosts of Mexico, and won 4-1, and were now ready to the semifinal, where the winner would play the winner between Brazil and Uruguay.
The match in from of a full Azteca Stadium started well for the Italians: only eight minutes into the match the Inter striker Roberto Boninsegna got a return ball at the edge of the German area and resolutely shot and scored.
After this, Italy pulled back around its strong defense, and while the Germans had the ball the most, they were unable to open up the defense. It was frustrating for the many spectators as well as for the German players, to see the German team in possession and attacking, but unable to score. In particular Franz Beckenbauer was playing a strong match, and in the second half he dislocated his shoulder in a fearless tackle. However, unwilling to be substituted, the Bayern Munich star continued playing with a bandaged shoulder for the remainder of the match for what must have been a very painful sacrifice.
In the 90th minute of the match, the frantic German attacks finally paid off when the AC Milan defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (”Volkswagen”) suddenly found himself alone in front of the Italian goal on a cross by Jurgen Grabowski, and just had to put the foot on the ball, that went straight into the net. It was one of the few mistakes that the well-organized Italian defense had made.
West Germany had equalized and now seemed to have everything going for them as the match went into extra time.
Only four minutes later, Gerd Müller took advantage of a misunderstanding between the goalkeeper Enrico Albertosi and the defender Fabrizio Pelotti; when either decide to grab the ball, Gerd Müller quickly got in between them and squeezed the ball into goal for a German lead.
With the match completely turned on its head, it was now Italy’s turn to start attacking against the partly amputated German defense, and only four minutes later the Inter defender Tarcisio Burgnich scored after receiving a bounced off ball from a German defender. Another defensive mistake had equalized it for the Italians, who nevertheless continued attacking after the goal. At the end of the first half of the extra time, Gigi Riva was given too much space at the edge of the German area, and in spite of it not being a very hard shot, it was well-placed towards the far corner of the goal, and Sepp Maier had no chance.
The match had in fifteen minutes turned around twice!
Again it was West Germany’s time to attack as the teams went into the last fifteen minutes of the match, and after only a few minutes Gerd Müller scored to 3-3 on a header.
But the Italians, immediately when putting the ball into play, scored again, without the Germans even touching the ball: Boninsegna crossed the ball to a Gianni Rivera and the Milan striker made no mistake when carefully placing the ball perfectly behind Sepp Maier!
Anything seemed possible in this crazy semifinal, but it was the last goal of the extraordinary drama which Italy won 4-3 and put them in the World Cup final against Brazil.
An anecdote of this match tells that the guards at a prison near Acapulco, absorbed in the dramatic match on TV, didn’t notice the escape of 23 prisoners…
Surely one of the greatest World Cup dramas!
Match Stats:
- 17th June 1970, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City
- Attendance: 102,000
- Referee: Arturo Yamasaki Maldonado (Peru)
Goals: 0-1 Boninsegna (8), 1-1 Schnellinger (90), 2-1 G. Muller (94), 2-2 Burgnich (98), 2-3 Riva (104), 3-3 G. Muller (110), 3-4 Rivera (111)
Teams:
West Germany: Maier; Schnellinger, Beckenbauer, Schulz, Vogts, Seeler, Overath, G. Muller, Patzke (Held), Loehr (Libuda), Grabowski
Italy: Albertosi; Burgnich, Facchetti, Cera, Rosato (Poletti), Bertini, Riva, Domenghini, Mazzola (Rivera), De Sisti, Boninsegna
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