Month: March 2016

The final was played on January 10, 1981 in front of 71 250 spectators, no doubt most of them cheering for Uruguay. Brazil was not shaken, but, like their match against Argentina, it was more than pure football – more than fair-play.

Tempers got the upper hand now and then and no wonder. No goals were scored in the first half. Uruguay got the lead in the 50th minute, thanks to Barrios. Brazil fought back, of course, and Socrates equalized from a penalty in the 62nd minute. 10 minutes before the end Uruguay scored again.

Victorino scored his third goal in the tournament and his most important one – it gave Uruguay the victory.

Uruguay was the champions of champions. Captain Rodolfo Rodriguez proudly lifted the Mundialito Cup and then the team joined its fans in the mots of Centenario.

Victory came with a bath for everybody. It was symbolic ending: the holders of most world titles lost to the very first world champions on the stadium built for the first World Cup.

Brazil was unable to beat Uruguay, just like it happened in 1950. This is not the team from the final, but the one beating West Germany 4-1. Above: Leite, Cerezo, Luizinho, Oscar, Edevaldo, Junior. Below: Tita, Paulo Isidoro, Socrates, Batista, Ze Sergio.

The best among the world champions – Uruguay in its finest. The big hero was Victorino, scoring in every match, finally scoring the goal making Uruguay the winner. It was definitely his finest year – 1980-early 1981 on both club and national team level. Walter Olivera, who unfortunately missed the last appearance of Uruguay at World Cup finals – 1974 – was a winner now. There were up and coming players, becoming known to the world – and becoming key players for Uruguay in the 1980s – de Leon and Diogo. And one very promising midfielder, whose name was misspelled almost all the time he was mentioned – Ariel Krasouski. May be Uruguay took more seriously the tournament than the other teams and had their finest squad, but it was well deserved victory – they won every match, allowed only 1 goal in the whole tournament, but scored 2 goals in every match they played, no matter who they played against.

The aftermath of Mundialito was entirely positive: Argentina was stronger with Maradona. West Germany was very strong, yet, both Argentina and Brazil beat them – South America was not lagging behind Europe. The new Brazil was wonderful – but lost to Uruguay! Evidently, Uruguay was coming back too. As a whole, the teams played open and attacking football, suggesting that the stagnation of the end of the 1970s was over. The teams were generally young and all teams suggested not only healthy new generation, but also rather vast pools of talent, for various stars were not included. South America was coming to leading position in the world, changing their approach, particularly Brazil, which after years of dull ‘European’ football went back to its roots. West Germany too looked like moving away from the physical football to the creative one they played in until 1975. Maradona, Socrates, Junior, Tita, de Leon, Diogo, Krasouski, Ancelotti, Vierchowod, Franco Baresi, Ruben Paz, Ramon Diaz, Barbas, Eder, van Breukelen… the list of new stars were longer, although not everybody played. Add the big current stars – Kempes, Rummenigge, Bonhof, Antognoni, Passarella, Ardiles. And keep in mind those who were left out for one or another reason – Zico, Stielike, Zoff, Schuster. Nothing to fear – it was like the early 70s again: the world was full of exciting young players, it was fun again, and it was going to stay this way. Such were the hopeful conclusions.

And locally –

Roque Maspoli was the hero, coaching Uruguay to victory.

Players and fans celebrated together, a celebration quickly taking over Montevideo.

Football was king – nothing better and more optimistic than that.

The tournament started on December 30 – seemingly, to keep it within 1980. This was the only game played in that year,though. Uruguay vs Holland. In front of 65 000 enthusiastic supporters the hosts won 2-0.

Both goals were scored in the first half, the second by Victorino, pictured here.

On January 3, 1981 Uruguay met Italy. Curiously, the match was attended by 10 000 people less than the one against Holland – strange, since Uruguay is heavily populated by people with Italian roots. The other strange thing was that both teams played with their first kits – blue vs sky blue. Clash of colours, but never mind.

Scirea prepares to tackle Moreira. All in vain – Uruguay scored 2 goals in the second half, Italy – nil. Victorino again scored the 2nd Uruguayan goal. Uruguay took Mundialito most seriously, eager to win it in front of home crowd and quickly reached the final, after beating Holland and Italy.

The last match in Group A was mere protocol. It was attended by the smallest crowd of the tournament – 15 000.

It looks like gritty competitive match and probably was, but there was nothing to achieve. Ancelotti gave the lead to Italy in the 7th minute, Jan Peters equalized in the 15th minute, and that was that.

 

Team

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts

Uruguay 2 2 0 0 4 0  +4 4

Italy         2 0 1 1 1 3   −2 1

Netherlands  2 0 1 1 1 3 −2 1

 

Group B started on January 1 with real thrill: the reigning World champions vs fresh European champions. Argentina vs West Germany. 60 000 came to watch the clash.

Horst Hrubesch in the centre of the action. He scored first – in the 41st minute. West Germany went to the break leading 1-0. The top teams of the world promised drama and drama it was – in the second half things changed. But not before the end of the game – Argentina equalized in 84th minute. Kaltz scored own goal – so far the Germans, not Maradona and Kempes, were the scorers. Two minutes before the final whistle the Argentines scored at last – Ramon Diaz gave the lead to the World champions and this was the final result.

Three days later, when one of the finalists of Mundialito was already known, Argentina met Brazil. Again 60 000 attended, expecting high-class football.

Pride, old rivalry, tempers – a South American derby is always quite combustible and the match was not just football. Maradona in the middle of the action, no matter what kind of action. But he scored at last – in the 30th minute Argentina grabbed the lead and the result stayed in their favour to the end of the first half. The second half started and Brazil scored right away – Edevaldo equalized in the 47th minute and the game ended 1-1. The last group match was the most important, unlike the last game in Group A – so far Argentina was number 1 and West Germany eliminated, but…

Brazil destroyed West Germany 4-1. Traditionally, Brazil always prevailed over the Germans, but this time it was total annihilation.

Schumacher clears just before Tita reaches the ball – despite the result, the clash was fierce and, to a point, repeating Argentina – West Germany: the Germans scored first. Klaus Allofs hit the net in the 54th minute. Two years later Junior equalized. In the 61st minute Toninho Cerezo gave the lead to Brazil. Serginho Chulapa made it 3-1 in the 76th minute and in the 82nd minute Ze Sergio scored the 4th goal. Brazil finished on top of Group B.

 

Team

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts

Brazil      2 1 1 0 5 2 +3 3

Argentina 2 1 1 0 3 2 +1 3

West Germany  2 0 0 2 2 6 −4  0

 

 

The squads were interesting:

Argentina

Head coach: Cesar Luis Menotti

No.

Pos.

Player

DoB/Age

Caps

Club

1

1GK

Ubaldo Fillol

21 July 1950 (aged 30)

 

River Plate

2

2DF

Luis Galván

24 February 1948 (aged 32)

 

Talleres de Córdoba

3

2DF

Alberto Tarantini

3 December 1955 (aged 25)

 

River Plate

4

2DF

Jorge Olguín

17 May 1952 (aged 28)

 

Independiente

5

3MF

Américo Gallego

25 April 1955 (aged 25)

 

Newell’s Old Boys

6

2DF

Daniel Passarella

25 May 1953 (aged 27)

 

River Plate

7

3MF

Daniel Bertoni

14 March 1955 (aged 25)

 

AC Fiorentina

8

3MF

Osvaldo Ardiles

3 August 1952 (aged 28)

 

Tottenham Hotspur

9

4FW

Ramón Díaz

29 August 1959 (aged 21)

 

River Plate

10

3MF

Diego Maradona

30 October 1960 (aged 20)

 

Argentinos Juniors

11

4FW

Mario Kempes

15 July 1954 (aged 26)

 

Valencia

12

1GK

Héctor Baley

16 November 1950 (aged 30)

 

Independiente

13

3MF

Carlos Fren

27 December 1954 (aged 26)

 

Independiente

14

4FW

Leopoldo Luque

3 May 1949 (aged 31)

 

River Plate

15

3MF

Juan Barbas

23 August 1959 (aged 21)

 

Racing Club

16

3MF

José Daniel Valencia

3 October 1955 (aged 25)

 

Talleres de Córdoba

17

2DF

José Van Tuyne

13 December 1954 (aged 26)

 

Talleres de Córdoba

18

2DF

Victorio Ocaño

9 June 1954 (aged 26)

 

Talleres de Córdoba

Seemingly, Menotti was not taking chanses – this was his best team. Formidable squad – all world champions of 1978, reinforced by Maradona and another bright star – Juan Barbas. No experiments, no trying of different players – curiously, Menotti was taking very conservative approach. The new additions were clearly deep resreves ( Fren and Ocano). There was obvious change of philosophy: two years ago Menotti firmly opposed foreign-based players, making an exception only for Mario Kempes. Now there was no problem… Ardiles, Kempes, and Bertoni were called from Italy, Spain, and England.

Brazil

Head coach: Telê Santana

No.

Pos.

Player

DoB/Age

Caps

Club

1

1GK

Carlos

4 March 1956

 

Ponte Preta

2

2DF

Edevaldo

28 January 1953

 

Fluminense

3

2DF

Oscar

20 January 1954

 

São Paulo

4

2DF

Luizinho

22 October 1958

 

Atlético Mineiro

5

2DF

Batista

8 March 1955

 

Internacional

6

2DF

Júnior

29 June 1954

 

Flamengo

7

3MF

Tita

1 April 1958

 

Flamengo

8

3MF

Toninho Cerezo

21 April 1955

 

Atlético Mineiro

9

3MF

Sócrates

19 February 1954

 

Corinthians

10

4FW

Renato

21 February 1957

 

São Paulo

11

4FW

Zé Sérgio

8 March 1957

 

São Paulo

12

1GK

João Leite

13 October 1955

 

Atlético Mineiro

13

2DF

Getúlio

25 February 1954

 

São Paulo

14

2DF

Juninho

29 August 1959

 

Ponte Preta

15

2DF

Edinho

5 June 1955

 

Fluminense

16

3MF

Paulo Isidoro

3 August 1953

 

Grêmio

17

4FW

Serginho

23 December 1953

 

São Paulo

18

4FW

Éder

25 March 1957

 

Atlético Mineiro

New coach, new team. Brazil was young and very different – the bulk of players was barely heard of in Europe: Socrates, Eder, Ze Sergio, Tita, Carlos, Junior, Serginho… Zico was not included and also Leao – these two omissions clearly suggested change of course, a radical change. As it turned out, Tele Santana was still searching and shaping – neither star was out of his mind, but eventually Leao will refuse to play for Tele Santana. Compared to Argentina, Brazil was unknown dark horse, but the absense of Zico was highly suggestive: Tele Santana was unafraid of leaving the greats star out, which meant that Brazil still had fantastic pool of talent.

 

Italy

Head coach: Enzo Bearzot

No.

Pos.

Player

DoB/Age

Caps

Club

1

1GK

Ivano Bordon

13 April 1951

 

Inter Milan

2

2DF

Franco Baresi

8 May 1960

 

Milan

3

2DF

Antonio Cabrini

8 October 1957

 

Juventus

4

2DF

Claudio Gentile

27 September 1953

 

Juventus

5

2DF

Gaetano Scirea

25 May 1953

 

Juventus

6

2DF

Pietro Vierchowod

6 April 1959

 

Como

7

3MF

Carlo Ancelotti

10 June 1959

 

Roma

8

3MF

Giancarlo Antognoni

1 April 1954

 

Fiorentina

9

3MF

Giampiero Marini

25 February 1951

 

Inter Milan

10

3MF

Gabriele Oriali

25 November 1952

 

Inter Milan

11

3MF

Marco Tardelli

24 September 1954

 

Juventus

12

1GK

Giovanni Galli

29 April 1958

 

Fiorentina

13

3MF

Renato Zaccarelli

18 January 1951

 

Torino

14

3MF

Salvatore Bagni

25 September 1956

 

Perugia

15

3MF

Bruno Conti

13 March 1955

 

Roma

16

4FW

Alessandro Altobelli

28 November 1955

 

Inter Milan

17

4FW

Francesco Graziani

16 December 1952

 

Torino

18

4FW

Roberto Pruzzo

1 April 1955

 

Roma

Italy was also experimenting just a little bit – there was no Bettega and no Zoff. Seemingly, Enzo Bearzot was adjusting his team in accord with inevitable aging, but the changes were small and the emphasis was on young players like Vierchowod, Ancelotti, Giovanni Galli, Franco Baresi just over 20 years of age. But it was not experimental team at all – it was pretty much the team of tommorow, the one aiming at the 1982 World Cup.

Netherlands

Head coach: Jan Zwartkruis

No.

Pos.

Player

DoB/Age

Caps

Club

1

1GK

Pim Doesburg

28 October 1943

 

PSV Eindhoven

2

2DF

Ben Wijnstekers

31 August 1955

 

Feyenoord

3

2DF

Ronald Spelbos

8 July 1954

 

AZ’67

4

2DF

Ernie Brandts

3 February 1956

 

PSV Eindhoven

5

2DF

Hugo Hovenkamp

5 October 1950

 

AZ’67

6

3MF

Willy van de Kerkhof

16 September 1951

 

PSV Eindhoven

7

3MF

Martin Jol

16 January 1956

 

FC Twente

8

3MF

Jan Peters

18 August 1954

 

AZ’67

9

4FW

Kees Kist

7 August 1952

 

AZ’67

10

3MF

René van de Kerkhof

16 September 1951

 

PSV Eindhoven

11

4FW

Pierre Vermeulen

16 March 1956

 

Feyenoord

12

2DF

John Metgod

27 February 1958

 

AZ’67

13

3MF

Michel Valke

24 August 1959

 

PSV Eindhoven

14

4FW

Pier Tol

12 July 1958

 

AZ’67

15

3MF

Toine van Mierlo

25 June 1957

 

Willem II

16

3MF

Peter Arntz

5 February 1953

 

AZ’67

17

2DF

Piet Wildschut

25 October 1957

 

PSV Eindhoven

18

1GK

Hans van Breukelen

4 October 1956

 

FC Utrecht

Holland was perhaps the most different than any participant: the 1980 European fiasco revealed a crisis and obviously a new team was to be made. It was not an easy task, because the key players aged and those still remaining were no longer strong. Ruud Krol was the missing man, but it was clear that Zwarkruis was starting a new team, seemingly based on AZ’67, currently in great form. Some of the new players were more or less incidental – van Mierlo, Valke; others eventually became regulars – Metgod, Arntz, but it was shaky team and really of this selection only Hans van Breukelen became a pillar of the national team. For the moment, he was just a back-up goalie, clearly invited in an attempt of solving long lasting weakness of Holland – no strong goalkeeper. Yet, as much as Zwartkruis was pushing ahead new players, he kept Pim Doesburg as first choise. He was the oldes player at Mundialito.

Uruguay

Head coach: Roque Máspoli

No.

Pos.

Player

DoB/Age

Caps

Club

1

1GK

Rodolfo Rodríguez

20 January 1956

 

Nacional

2

2DF

Walter Olivera

26 August 1952

 

Peñarol

3

2DF

Hugo de León

27 February 1958

 

Grêmio

4

2DF

José Moreira

30 September 1958

 

Nacional

5

3MF

Ariel Krasouski

31 May 1958

 

Montevideo Wanderers

6

2DF

Daniel Martínez

21 December 1959

 

Danubio

7

4FW

Venancio Ramos

20 June 1959

 

Peñarol

8

3MF

Eduardo de La Peña

7 June 1955

 

Nacional

9

4FW

Waldemar Victorino

22 June 1952

 

Nacional

10

3MF

Rubén Paz

8 August 1959

 

Peñarol

11

4FW

Julio Morales

16 February 1945

 

Nacional

12

1GK

Fernando Alvez

4 September 1959

 

Peñarol

13

4FW

Jorge Siviero

13 May 1952

 

Sud América

14

2DF

Nelson Marcenaro

4 September 1952

 

Peñarol

15

2DF

Víctor Diogo

9 April 1958

 

Peñarol

16

4FW

Arsenio Luzardo

4 September 1959

 

Nacional

17

3MF

Jorge Barrios

24 January 1961

 

Montevideo Wanderers

18

3MF

Ernesto Vargas

1 May 1961

 

Peñarol

Uruguay was the dark horse really – the 1970s were lean years and after misereable 1974 World Cup and entirely missing the 1978 World Cup, Uruguay slipped out of world’s attentation. It was expected that Uruguay would be more than willing to win the tournament in front of home croud, but the real strength of the team was quite unknown. Maspoli surely selected the strongest possible team and after Nacional won so much internationally in 1980, Uruguay was taken seriously, but were they really good? Like all others, the hosts were young, except the 35-years old veteran Julio Morales and 28-years old Walter Olivera and Waldemar Victorino. If that was the best squad of the country, then it was clearly a team for the 1980s – Mundialito was really a torunament, featuring those, who will define the 1980s.

Above: Rummenigge, Bonhof, Hrubesch, Schumacher, Briegel, Kaltz.

Below: Müller, Magath, Allofs, K. Förster, Dietz.

West Germany

Head coach: Jupp Derwall

No.

Pos.

Player

DoB/Age

Caps

Club

1

1GK

Harald Schumacher

6 March 1954

 

1. FC Köln

2

2DF

Manfred Kaltz

6 January 1953

 

Hamburger SV

3

3MF

Rainer Bonhof

29 March 1952

 

Valencia CF

4

2DF

Karlheinz Förster

25 July 1958

 

VfB Stuttgart

5

2DF

Bernard Dietz

22 March 1948

 

MSV Duisburg

6

2DF

Hans-Peter Briegel

11 October 1955

 

1. FC Kaiserslautern

7

3MF

Felix Magath

26 July 1953

 

Hamburger SV

8

4FW

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

25 September 1955

 

Bayern Munich

9

4FW

Horst Hrubesch

17 April 1951

 

Hamburger SV

10

3MF

Hansi Müller

27 July 1957

 

VfB Stuttgart

11

4FW

Klaus Allofs

5 December 1956

 

Fortuna Düsseldorf

12

1GK

Eike Immel

27 November 1960

 

Borussia Dortmund

13

2DF

Kurt Niedermayer

25 November 1955

 

Bayern Munich

14

2DF

Wilfried Hannes

17 May 1957

 

Borussia Mönchengladbach

15

3MF

Miroslav Votava

25 April 1956

 

Werder Bremen

16

3MF

Wolfgang Dremmler

12 July 1954

 

Bayern Munich

17

3MF

Karl Allgöwer

5 January 1957

 

VfB Stuttgart

18

3MF

Ronald Borchers

10 August 1957

 

Eintracht Frankfurt

West Germany came with her best – the new European champions instantly became famous and their football was exciting. Of course, a bunch of new players were included, just to taste big football: Immel, Niedermayer, Hannes, Dremmler, Allgower, Borchers, but the starters were the regulars. Stielike and Schuster were not included, but Bonhof was back – largely, showing the depth of current German football: you can leave Stielike out, when having Bonhof. With Schuster it was a bit different, because of his frictions with Derwall, but he was not out of the team yet. No problem, however – there was Magath. Along with Argentina, West Germany was seemingly the strongest team.

Mundialito was taken seriously by all participants, judging by the squads and a great introduction of teams and players defining the 1980s. That was the most optimistic sign, eventually becoming more optimistic, when games started.

 

Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales (World Champions’ Gold Cup) – or Mundialito (Little World Cup) – was not exactly official tournament.

It was organized to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first World cup, played in 1930. Hence, it was staged at the same place the first world championship was played – in Montevideo, Uruguay, at the very stadium, built 50 years ago for the great occasion – Centenario. It was to be contested between all world champions so far – they were conveniently 6: Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, West Germany, Italy, and England. A championship of the champions – sounded great. England, however, declined participation and had to be replaced by Holland. Why Holland? If it was just because of her two silver medals, then Czechoslovakia also had a claim. But it was late substitute and Holland was believed more deserving, because they were most recent silver medalists and one of the best world teams in the 1970s. However, the idea was a bit spoiled… it was to be a grand clash of world champions, not runners-up. Blame it on England. The other problem was the very staging of the tournament – it had to be 1980, so to make the numbers right, but 1980 was full and the tournament only rudimentary belongs to it: it started on December 30, 1980 and finished on January 10, 1981. Not only the larger part of Mundialito was played in 1981, but the winner was decided well into 1981. But there was no other way… the Europeans really commanded the schedule: in their summer of 1980 the European championship was played, after that domestic championship and the continental club tournaments. The calendar was full and no club was willing to release players to some international tournament. The focus of attention was elsewhere for the public too. So, the winter mid-season break was the only time left – but England had no such break and find it inconvenient to participate. How seriously the Europeans took Copa de Oro was another matter – after the grueling fall season the players were hardly at their best, preferring rest. Various new players were included in the teams, yet, the teams played largely with their regulars, so it was not just experimental teams. And South Americans had many unknown abroad players, so it looked like more of shaping new teams than fielding those who hardly ever played only to go through some unimportant tournament. The hosts perhaps took the most serious approach.

But spoiled is spoiled: of course, the opening ceremony welcomes all world champions in their language, but English is not the official language of Holland. Well, Holland was not world champion… the ironies may pile up, but the Uruguayans came to watch great football, not to read. The 6 teams were divided into 2 round-robin groups, the winners to meet at the final, deciding the best among the champions. Each team had a roster of 18 players – that is, the number usually used at Olympic games, but it was short tournament, so there was no real need for squads of World cup size. Group A was composed of Holland, Italy, and Uruguay, and Group B of Brazil, Argentina, and West Germany. Group B was seemingly stronger.

1981

Optimism returned, at least for a part of the year. Suddenly it was like 1971 again, a fresh air in the stuffy football world, seeing decline at the end of the 1970s. Technically, the positive signs belonged to 1980, but really affected the mood for 1981. The European championship ended with bright new West Germany and exciting Belgium, then, at the end of 1980 started Mundialito, bringing more interesting stuff, particularly the new Brazil.

Mundialito was billed as 1980 tournament, but really it was played in 1981. This unofficial tournament fueled more hopes, for West Germany – the strongest and most exciting European team at the moment – was blown away easily by brand seemingly stronger then 2 years ago Argentina with Maradona and brand new Brazil lead by Socrates. The reigning world champions themselves were unable to reach the final and on top of everything Brazil lost to Uruguay at the end. All this easily translated into a whole bunch of teams playing great football and outdoing each other. The players were largely young, freshly discovered talents – none of the great old names played any role anymore. The 1980s were suddenly promising, contrary to ominous predictions, based on the end of the 70s. Football was alive again – or so it seemed.

But there was another big news – perhaps bigger than Mundialito – and it happened in the summer of 1980. Italy opened its market for foreign players. It was expected and anticipated, but finally happened – it changed the European football map instantly. And in the same time the East European countries started to export players Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria joined Poland and Hungary. Since USSR already had an exported player, the last resisting were DDR and Albania.

Quiet exit of big star, but also a quiet beginning of new star: Dunga debuted in 1980 for Inernacional (Porto Alegre). Everybody knows him today – nobody knew him then, so his early photos may not even ring a bell for most football aficionados:

Nothing like the familiar picture of the captain of 1994 World champions

Dunga was 17-years old talent in 1980, but he did not start with a bang – nothing like Maradona, who was famous even before making his professional debut. On the contrary – Dunga was not heard of before 1983, the first year the spirited and gritty defensive midfielder became a regular for Internacional, wearing number 5.

There was nothing in his humble beginning suggesting that Carlos Caetano Bledom Verri will be one of the only two men (the other is Spanish star Xavi) to play in World Cup, Olympic games, Confederations Cup, and continental championships. But he debuted in that year and slowly climbed to the very top of world football.

Retirement. Colin Bell played his last season and quit the game at 34.

During his last year, he played just 5 games for NASL team San Jose Earthquakes. Even today his retirement is lamented as premature, but effectively Colin Bell was out of big football since 1975 – his career was cut short by heavy knee injury, from which he never recovered and by 1980 even easy NASL football was way too much. By this time Bell was rarely mentioned and his retirement went unnoticed.

Bad luck for arguably the greatest player Manchester City ever had. Colin Bell, born in 1946, started with Bury in 1963 and stayed with the small club until 1966, appearing in 82 games and scoring 25 goals. Manchester City signed him them and quickly he became a big star – and club legend. Between 1966 and 1979 he played 394 matches for City and scored 117 goals.

In England, Bell is considered the best box-to-box player of his day – a midfielder, roaming the whole field, which in British football was called ‘central halfback’. That is, bell was considered more defensive midfielder than constructive or attacking one, and that was why his scoring ability was thought amazing. His skills were not missed by the English national team coaches – Bell played regularly for England between 1968 and 1975 – 48 matches in which he scored 9 goals.

A key player of the national team, he played at the 1970 World Cup: here Franz Beckenbauer tries to catch him in Mexico. Unfortunately, he played at the time when England missed the big changes in football, especially after 1972, but whether Bell was the man to keep England afloat or not is academic – everything stopped in 1975, when he was injured. After that, he never came close to his earlier form and may be even stayed active too stubbornly too long: he slipped out of sight and his last effort to come back by going to USA did not work – he was unable to play and finally had to give up. A sad end of wonderful player, but Colin Bell is remembered fondly by those lucky to see him play before 1975.

 

Golden Shoe – it all depended on numbers. No wonder weaker championships usually propelled strikers to the award, but there was a sense of coming 1980s in it too – a very young guy was the highest scorer in Europe: only 21 years old, clearly a player to blossom in the new decade. He was also impressed at the European championship finals with team Belgium. Walter Schachner (Austria Vienna, Austria) was 3rd with 34 goals. The Hungarian winger Laszlo Fazekas (Ujpesti Dosza) was 2nd with 36 goals.

Erwin Vandenbergh netted 39 for his Lierse and got the Golden Shoe.

It was not just accidental season for the youngster – Vandenbergh was often heard of during the 1980s, one more new star.

In Europe Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was voted player of the year. Bayern was winning again, West Germany was winning, Rummenigge was at top form – perhaps his finest. He was 25.

It was almost total victory – practically all voting journalists placed him first. And considering the competition, it was hardly a hand out, as the award appeared to be given in the few previous years – very distant 2nd was Bernd Schuster (1. FC Koln – Barcelona) and 3rd – Michel Platini (St. Etienne). No more old stars – this were the new ones, the key figures of the 1980s. The next generation was coming finally strong. Rummenigge got 122 points, Schuster – 34, Platini – 33.

South American player of the year was voted Diego Maradona – like in the year before. Perhaps now there was no doubt – Diego was already around for awhile and truly established star – not just a promising talent credited more for the future than for the present. Waldemar Victorino (Nacional,Uruguay) was 3rd and his case was clear – great year for him, but largely because of Nacional’s international victories. Zico (Flamengo) was 2nd – he was ranked high for consistent strong playing, not that much for any outstanding international game or two. Maradona was like Zico – Argentinos Juniors became familiar name outside Argentina not because they were great team, but because of Maradona – and largely thanks to him they became a strong factor in Argentine football, however, unable to win a title.