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.