1978 FIFA World Cup

1978 FIFA World Cup
Argentina '78
	; 1978 FIFA World Cup official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Argentina
Dates	1 – 25 June (25 days)
Teams	16 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	6 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Argentina (1st title)
Runners-up	Netherlands
Third place	Brazil
Fourth place	Italy
Tournament statistics
Matches played	38
Goals scored	102 (2.68 per match)
Attendance	1,546,151 (40,688 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Mario Kempes (6 goals)
Best player	Mario Kempes
	← 1974 1982 →

The 1978 FIFA World Cup, the 11th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The 1978 World Cup was won by Argentina who beat the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the final. This win was the first World Cup title for Argentina, who became the fifth team (after Uruguay, Italy, England and West Germany), to be both hosts and world champions. The official match ball was the Adidas Tango.

Host selection [edit]

Main article: FIFA World Cup hosts

Argentina was chosen as the host nation by FIFA in London, England on 6 July 1966. Mexico withdrew from the bidding process after having been awarded the 1970 competition two years earlier.

Qualification [edit]

Main article: 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification

Countries qualified for World Cup

Country failed to qualify

Countries that did not enter World Cup

Country not a FIFA member

England failed to qualify for the second World Cup in succession, losing out to Italy. European champions Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union also failed to make it through the qualifying tournament. Newcomers to the finals were Iran and Tunisia; Austria qualified for the first time since 1958, while France, Spain and Hungary were back for the first time since 1966.

Controversy [edit]

A controversial fact surrounding the 1978 World Cup was that Argentina had suffered a military coup only two years before the cup. Because of this, some countries, most notably the Netherlands, considered publicly whether they should participate in the cup. Despite this, all teams eventually participated without restrictions. Allegations that Dutch star Johan Cruijff refused to participate because of political convictions were refuted by him 30 years later.^[1] More controversy surrounded the host, Argentina, as all of their games in the first round kicked off at night, giving the Argentines the advantage of knowing where they stood in the group. This issue would arise again in Spain 1982, which prompted FIFA to change the rules so that the final two group games in subsequent World Cups would be played simultaneously.

There are several allegations that the government of Argentina struck a deal with the government of Peru that ensured Argentina would proceed to the final. The deal allegedly encompassed delivery of a large grain shipment to Peru by Argentina and the unfreezing of a Peruvian bank account that was held by the Argentine Central Bank. In exchange, the Peruvian team had to allow Argentina to win in their second-round match with a margin that was large enough to go the next round. That margin was four goals.^[2]

Three months before the World Cup, Argentina had beaten Peru 3-1 in Lima, head to head record was 15-3 in favour of the hosting nation and Peru had never beaten Argentina away from home. However, Peru had conceded only six goals in their previous five games in the World Cup. During the first half, Peru hit the posts twice after two counters when the game was 0-0. Argentina managed to get ahead 2-0 before the end of the first 45 minutes. During the second half, Argentina was ahead 4-0 when Peru had another clear chance. Finally, Argentina kept attacking and won 6-0 surpassing the needed margin.

Format [edit]

The format of the competition stayed the same as in 1974: 16 teams qualified, divided into four groups of four. Each group played a round-robin with two points for a win and one for a draw, and goal difference used to separate teams level on points. The top two teams in each group would advance to the second round, where they would be split into two groups of four. The winners of each group would play each other in the final, and the second place finishers in the third place match. For the 1978 World Cup, FIFA introduced the penalty shootout as a means of determining the winner in knockout stages should the match end on a draw after 120 minutes. The method, however, was not put in practice as both the third-place match and the final were decided before 120 minutes. The first World Cup to feature a penalty shootout was the 1982 World Cup, in the semifinal match between France and West Germany.

Summary [edit]

First round [edit]

The first round produced several surprises. Poland won Group 2 ahead of world champions West Germany, after holding the Germans to a goalless draw and then beating Tunisia and Mexico. The Germans then thrashed Mexico 6–0, and finally played out a second goalless draw against Tunisia. Although they failed to qualify for the second round, Tunisia made history by beating Mexico 3–1 while losing 0–1 at half time. It was the first time that any African team had won a match at the World Cup finals.

Peru pushed the Netherlands into second place in Group 4, where Scotland missed out on goal difference for the second successive tournament. Teófilo Cubillas was outstanding for Peru, scoring twice against Scotland in Peru's 3–1 win and hitting a hat-trick in their 4–1 victory over Iran. Rob Rensenbrink of the Netherlands also scored three times against Iran, scoring all the goals as the Dutch won 3–0. Scotland drew with Iran 1–1 and the only highlight of their campaign was a 3–2 victory over the Netherlands in their final group game which was not enough to prevent elimination. Iran, the reigning Asian champions, went out of the tournament winless. The Netherlands's Rob Rensenbrink's goal against Scotland was the 1000th goal of World Cup history. Scotland's Willie Johnston was expelled from the World Cup after he was found to have taken a banned stimulant during the opening game against Peru.

The biggest surprise of all came in Group 3, where Austria finished ahead of Brazil. The Austrians beat Spain and Sweden, while Brazil were held to draws by the same two teams. The draw with Sweden was especially controversial; Welsh referee Clive Thomas awarded Brazil a very late corner kick and Zico directly headed the kick into the net but Thomas blew for time before Zico made contact with the ball and the goal was disallowed. The Brazilian players were not happy with the decision, but the final result remained a 1–1 draw. Brazil needed to beat Austria in their final group game to be sure of progressing to the second round, and managed a 1–0 win thanks to a goal from Roberto Dinamite. Brazil and Austria thus finished with the same number of points and the same goal difference, but Austria won the group by virtue of having scored more goals.

Group 1 had the strongest line-up of teams in the first round, featuring Italy, the host Argentina, France and Hungary. The two places in the second round were claimed before the final round of games, with Italy and Argentina both beating France and Hungary. The match between Italy and Argentina decided who topped the group, and a goal from Roberto Bettega midway through the second half was enough to give that honour to Italy. It also forced Argentina to move out of Buenos Aires and play in Rosario.

The 1978 World Cup marked the second and last occasion during which a national team did not wear its own kit to play a match (the first being in a 1958 World Cup first round match between West Germany and Argentina). The incident happened during the game between France and Hungary. Both teams arrived at the venue with only their white change kits, resulting in a delayed kickoff while officials went in search of the jerseys of a local team from Mar del Plata, Club Atlético Kimberley; the jerseys had vertical green and white stripes and were worn by France.

Second round [edit]

In the all-European Group A, the Netherlands got off to a flying start by thrashing Austria 5–1, Johnny Rep scoring two of their goals. In a rematch of the 1974 final, the Dutch then drew 2–2 with West Germany, who had previously shared a goalless game with Italy. The Italians beat Austria 1–0, and so the Netherlands faced Italy in their last group game knowing that the winners would reach the final. Erny Brandts scored an 18th-minute own goal to put Italy ahead at half-time, but he made up for his mistake by scoring at the right end in the fifth minute of the second half. Arie Haan got the winner for the Dutch with 15 minutes remaining, and the Netherlands had reached their second successive World Cup Final. In the game known as the miracle of Cordoba, West Germany were surprisingly beaten by Austria 2–3 which marked their end as World Champions.

Group B was essentially a battle between Argentina and Brazil, and it was resolved in controversial circumstances. In the first round of group games, Brazil beat Peru 3–0 while Argentina saw Poland off by a score of 2–0. Brazil and Argentina then played out a tense and violent goalless draw, so both teams went into the last round of matches with three points. Argentina delayed the kick-off of its last match to await the result of the Brazil-Poland encounter. Brazil won by a 3-1 score, meaning Argentina had to beat Peru by four clear goals to reach the final. The hosts managed to do it with what some saw as a suspicious degree of ease. Trailing 2–0 at half-time, Peru simply collapsed in the second half, and Argentina eventually won 6–0. Rumours suggested that Peru might have been bribed into allowing Argentina to win the match by such a large margin (especially because the Peruvian goalkeeper, Ramón Quiroga, was born in Argentina);^[3] however, nothing could be proved, and Argentina met the Netherlands in the final. Brazil took third place from an enterprising Italian side with Nelinho scoring a memorable goal, and were dubbed "moral champions" by coach Cláudio Coutinho, because they did not win the tournament, but did not lose a single match.

Final [edit]

The final, Argentina vs Netherlands, was also controversial, as the Dutch accused the Argentines of using stalling tactics to delay the match. The host team came out late and questioned the legality of a plaster cast on René van de Kerkhof's wrist, which the Dutch claimed allowed tension to build in front of a hostile Buenos Aires crowd. Mario Kempes opened the scoring for the hosts before Dick Nanninga equalized a few minutes from the end. Rob Rensenbrink had a glorious stoppage-time opportunity to win it for the Netherlands but his effort came back off the goal post. Argentina won the final 3–1 after extra time, after Daniel Bertoni scored and Kempes, who finished as the tournament's top scorer with six goals, added his second of the day. The Netherlands, because of the controversial game events, refused to attend the post-match ceremonies after the match ended.^[4] They had lost their second World Cup final in a row, both times to the host nation, after losing to West Germany in 1974. Argentina won 5 games but became the first team to win the World Cup after failing to win two matches (losing to Italy in the first round and drawing with Brazil in the second round). Although Italy would win the next World Cup after failing to win 3 games.

Mascot [edit]

Gauchito

The official mascot of this World Cup was Gauchito, a boy wearing an Argentina strip. His hat (with the words ARGENTINA '78), neckerchief and whip are typical of gauchos.

Venues [edit]

Buenos Aires		Córdoba
Estadio Monumental	Estadio José Amalfitani	Estadio Córdoba
Capacity: 76,000	Capacity: 49,540	Capacity: 46,083

Mar del Plata	Rosario	Mendoza
Estadio José María Minella	Estadio Gigante de Arroyito	Estadio Ciudad de Mendoza
Capacity: 43,542	Capacity: 41,654	Capacity: 34,875

Match officials [edit]

AFC

CAF

Youssou N'Diaye

CONCACAF

Alfonso González Archundia

CONMEBOL

UEFA

Squads [edit]

For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1978 FIFA World Cup squads.

Seeding [edit]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Argentina (hosts) West Germany (defending champions) Netherlands (1974 runners-up) Brazil	Italy Sweden Mexico Peru	Hungary Poland Scotland Spain	Austria France Iran Tunisia