The 1966 World Cup was held in England, who was the first to embrace marketing, featuring a mascot and official logo for the first time. The trophy was
stolen in the run-up to the tournament but was found a week later by a dog named "Pickles". The qualifying rounds of the tournament saw a controversy when the African nations decided to withdraw in protest of only one qualifying place allocated by FIFA to the regions of Asia, Oceania and Africa. The eventual qualifiers from the zone, North Korea, became the first Asian team to reach the quarter-finals, eliminating Italy in the process. England won the tournament . Geoff Hurst became the first and to this day the only player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final and Eusébio, whose team Portugal were taking part in their first World Cup, was the tournament top-scorer, with 9 goals to his name.
The qualification stages of the 1970 World Cup were the cause of the Football War between Honduras and El Salvador. The finals were held in Mexico. Israel had been with Europe, but due to political issues, it was becoming harder to place them adequately in the qualifying rounds. The group stage clash between defending champions England and Brazil lived up to its billing, and is still remembered for England goalkeeper Gordon Banks' save from a Pelé header on the six-yard line, arguably the greatest save ever. Italy were the eventual 4-3 winners, but were defeated 1-4 in the final by Brazil, who became the first nation to win three World Cups, and were awarded the Jules Rimet trophy permanently for their achievement.
A new trophy was created for 1974 world cup, held in West Germany. East Germany, Haiti, Australia and Zaire made their first finals. The tournament also saw a new format, where the two top teams from each of the earlier four groups were divided into two groups of four each again, the winner of either group playing each other in the final. The West German hosts won the competition by beating the Netherlands
2-1 in the final.
The 1978 World Cup was held in Argentina. though none of the teams decided to stay away. Iran and Tunisia were first time participants. There was some on-field controversy as well, when Argentina, needing to win by a clear four goals in order to make the final in place of Brazil, beat Peru 6-0, the total number of goals they had scored in the tournament till this match. They went on to win the final 3-1, Mario Kempes scoring twice, with the Dutch being runners-up for the second time running.
No comments:
Post a Comment