1979
Years following World Cup are usually anti-climactic, at least in the perceptions of the fans, but 1978-79 was different: a sense of alarm. The exciting teams of the early 1970s declined – Ajax, Bayern, West Germany. The exciting total football spread and changed before becoming a norm in the most countries. The elements were present, but not the fascinating improvisations, not the joyous attacks – instead there was hard tackling, pressure on the whole field, and constant running. Somehow the defensive elements of the style were emphasized. There were no creative teams introducing new tactics – Liverpool and Juventus were more or less the current favourites and both teams, as good as they were, mostly added a few elements from total football to otherwise traditional English and Italian football. Anderlecht perhaps came closer to original total football, yet, it was obvious that the club’s style and even form depended simply on the number of the Dutch players in the squad and they were well known names for years. South America so far did not contribute to the development of football – the continent still had difficulties in coming to terms with total football, but years went by and now it was even not sure that the Latins had to pursue the style. Most alarming was the absence of great new stars, especially creative midfielders – the playmaker and the libero were ‘a must’, yet there was no new Cruyff or Beckenbauer, let alone someone better than the icons. The leading players, even if still young, were not exactly newcomers – Keegan, Platini, Krankl, they were around already for quite some time. The few discoveries at the 1978 World Cup sunk back into obscurity – Boniek really became a star in 1982. And may be the worst of everything was the realization that the flag bearers of total football did not change much the style and even less the fate of the clubs they went to – Cryuff won a single title with Barcelona and nothing in Europe. Same with Neeskens, Breitner, Netzer… They were stepping down already, leaving a sense that an era was ending without even fully realizing its potential. 1978-79 showed not so much a change of guard, but rather the absence of great new teams – there was one major tournament, Copa America, and it was won not by the current World champions Argentina, nor by Brazil, but by Paraguay. Paraguayan club won also Copa Libertadores. In Europe Nottingham Forest won the European Champions Cup. The other finalist was Malmo FF… nice to see the underdogs win, but… It was the year of the Cinderellas.
Paraguay – champions of South America.
Olympia (Asuncion) – Paraguayan champions on the club level.
Both teams remained quite anonymous to most observers – a novelty, somewhat.
The other big news of the season was the flock of foreign players going to England – it was so unusual, many still think England opened its market to foreigners in 1978. Apart from the mistake, there was harsh criticism of foreigners in England: for years they were mostly thought unfit for the English kind of football. Many failed, few managed to adapt. The transfers were even a bit curious to the outsiders: one could think that fresh champion of the world and individually one of the best players at the finals would move to bigger club than Birmingham City, a club largely struggling to maintain a place in first division… but it was there Tarantini went and was found… unsatisfying.
As a whole, a disturbing year without much flair.