The big final at last. Italy vs West Germany. The early German crimes turned a lot of people against them, but sentimental wishes have nothing to do with reality. So far, West Germany was not convincing on the field and Italy vastly improved after very weak beginning. Small plus for Italy in terms of plying the game, but nobody was forgetting the special German ability to deliver when mattered most. There was no doubt that both teams will be highly motivated, but exactly here the Germans had the edge. Italians played dirty when in trouble, but not only the Germans showed similar ability, they also showed that could be entirely ruthless. Their pressure was relentless and were physically stronger than the Italians. On the other hand, Italy was by far the more technical team and had more players capable of improvising. Antognoni, Rossi, the brightly improving every next match Conti, plus generally intelligent teammates was much more than what West Germany had – practically, only Breitner for interesting constructive attacks, eager Littbarski and may be Stielike, if Breitner let him. West Germany was very strong, but also very straight-forward and predictable in this version. They were going to attack and Italy most likely was going to depend on counter-attacks, which may not be lethal against German defenders and goalkeeper like Schumacher. It was 50-50… sentimentality preferred Italy somewhat, unless they started playing ugly. Gentile was a starter after all. But not Antognoni… injuries were the plaque of this championship and the last victim was Antognoni, unable to play at the final – which made Bearzot fielding a 5th defender in his place, thus seemingly giving the edge to the Germans in advance. As for Derwal… either blinded by the goal Rummenigge scored against France, or just scared, but he decided to start with unfit Rummenigge instead of trying something else. Magath was benched. Unpleasant picture emerged as a strong possibility: Gentile chopping down Rummenigge, thus leaving the Germans with practically 10 players and greatly reducing the German attacking power. But all that was still possibilities, arguments, suppositions – they lasted until the referee gave the start of the final.
Quickly became clear that West Germany could hope only for a miracle – the Italians not only neutralized the German assault, but matched them in speed and mobility. Of course, defense was their primary concern, but they executed perfectly their tactical plan and moved forward, creating danger in front of the German net. Lacking imagination, the Germans lost the battle relatively early and the inevitable happened in the 25th minute, when Briegel brought down Conti in the penalty area.
Cabrini stepped in and… missed the penalty shot. This, seemingly, was crucial moment: it was supposed to inspire at last the Germans and perhaps crush the spirit of more fragile mentally Italians. But the opposite happened – Italy was unshaken, even more determined, and West Germany was the same. It was tough match, of course, and no mercy was shown, yet, it was not a dirty match.
It was almost painful to watch Breitner trying to create something, but was never understood by his simple-minded teammates.
Rummenigge, closely marked, as expected, was a pale shadow of himself. As time passed, it was increasingly clear that Derwall made a mistake starting with Rummenigge. Perhaps his biggest mistake. Italy, on the other hand, never did anything wrong. Strikers moved back to help their defenders, but were quick to go into attacks – unselfish, collective approach, which turned the scales entirely in Italian favour. One thing Italy was a big master of was patience – the first half ended 0-0, but they already controlled the match and the result was not a bother. As for West Germany, only lucky strike would helped them – the best what possibly would happen was to keep the tie, including in extra-time, and hope to win the penalty shoot-out. No such luck.
Rossi scored in the 57th minute and after that Tardelli and Altobelli finished the Germans – 3-0 in the 81st minute. Derwall made changes – Hrubesch replaced Dremler in the 63rd minute and Hansi Muller substituted Rummenigge in the 71st minute, but it was felt that the changes were too late to make any difference. Still the Germans managed to score – Breitner, in the 83rd minute, but he got no consolation from it. It was nice to see the revered veteran of 1974 and the only interesting player the Germans had score, but West Germany lost the final already. As for Italy, Bearzot fielded Causio a minute before the final whistle – it looked like a nice tribute to one of the greatest Italian players of the 1970s, who was no longer starter and surely was not going to play at another World Cup. It was also a tribute to a long road of development, of shaping a team for many years, and Causio was key player of the earlier years of building. Italy won 3-1, fair and square, to the relieve of many, who so the Italian victory as a revenge, righting the wrongs West Germany did to the sport. Looked like football triumphed at last against brutal scheming.
Italy lifted the World Cup and who deserved it more than Paolo Rossi, the top scorer of the championship?
Enzo Bearzot, that’s who. The coach endured years of heavy criticism, sticking stubbornly to his vision, trusting his players, answering cruel questions. There was whole army insisting he must be fired because the team was not winning, the players were too old, few changes were made. Bearzot smoked his pipe coolly until his boys conquered the world.
West Germany got silver, which many considered undeserved. What happened to the wonderful team of only two years back? There was not a trace of it. Yes, there were injured players, particularly Rummenigge; yes, the players were tired and had very short training camp. Yes, Bernd Schuster refused to play for the national team. And yes, Derwall screw up. So much so, he had to step down. May be too soft and bending to the dictatorial whims of ‘Bayern mafia’, namely Breitner and Rummenigge. May be just having no guts, for, from aside, Derwall appeared scared of taking risks even when plainly nothing was going right. He played unfit and clearly useless Rummenigge. Stielike was given mostly defensive functions. The team used only two strikers most of the time and it was more than questionable how effective Fischer and Rummenigge could be – one out of form and the other an English kind of centre-forward, who rarely got high balls to fight for, win, and score. Hansi Muller and Magath were not starters most of the time, thus limiting further already limited creativity. West Germany were just strong robots going to a war – but tactically impoverished, they produced only massive dull assault to everything that moved. Silver medals were too much for this team.
Italy became world champion for a third time, equalizing Brazil. It was a long, long wait – since 1938. They were deserving champions too, but also strange champions. Yes, they eliminated Argentina, Brazil, and West Germany, the biggest favourites before the start of the championship and in the case of Brazil – the team almost everybody saw as the new champions until the match with Italy. But in the first phase Italy was more than sluggish and qualified to the next round more or less by chance. It was almost 50-50: three weak games and 4 strong ones, hardly the most convincing winners. And observers had a hard time to distinguish players – individually, the Italians were not the top players at any position. They also did not endear fans and specialist – there were villains among them, particularly Gentile. Tactically, Italy was a step back too – seemingly, moving away from total football and into improved and covering the whole field 1960s tactics: defense first, counter-attacks, personal marking. Paolo Rossi was the hero not just because of his goals, but largely because he did not play organized football for two years and until May of 1982 – his form was a miracle. But his play was not better than before, may be even weaker than the one displayed in 1978. Perhaps the only player who was a discovery at this championship was Bruno Conti. Italy was strong as a collective following the required tactics to the letter and having enough skills to improvise if there was an opportunity. Yet, they were fair winners, outplaying the Germans at the final and even pleasing the crowds.
