FIFA World Cup 1970- Football Tournament in Mexico

The 1970 FIFA World Cup was held in Mexico, from May 31 to June 21. Mexico was chosen as hosts by FIFA in October 1964. In 1970 North America hosted World Cup tournament the first time. In a match-up of two-time World Cup champions, the final was won by Brazil, who beat Italy 4-1. With their third World Cup triumph, Brazil were allowed to keep the Jules Rimet Trophy permanently.

Qualification

A total of 75 teams entered the qualifying tournament. Those who failed to qualify included France, Portugal, Hungary, Argentina and Spain. Morocco became the first African nation to reach the World Cup finals since the Second World War.

Summary

First Round

The 1970 World Cup was the first one to be televised in colour. However, to fit into the European viewing schedules, some matches kicked off at noon. This was an unpopular decision with many players and managers because of the intense heat in Mexico at that time of day.

The format of the competition stayed the same as 1966: 16 teams qualified, divided into four groups of four playing each other once in a round-robin format. There were no seeds, instead the organizers formed geographical ‘sections’ from which the four groups were drawn in Mexico City, on January 10, 1970. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals.

For the first time, substitutions were allowed in World Cup play.Each team were allowed to make two substitutions during a match. The Soviet Union were the first team to make a substitution in World Cup history against Mexico in the opening match. Viktor Serebryanikov was the first player to be replaced, by Anatoly Puzach after 45 minutes.

This World Cup also featured the first ever use of yellow and red cards for cautions and expulsions respectively. Five yellow cards were shown in the opening Mexico vs USSR match, while no red cards were given throughout the whole tournament.

In Group 1, hosts Mexico lived up to the expectations of an entire nation by advancing along with the Soviet Union, though there was controversy over the home side’s 1-0 victory over Belgium and their 4-0 win over El Salvador.

Group 2 of the opening round produced just six goals in six games as Uruguay, reigning South America champions, and the reigning European champions, Italy , prevail over Sweden and surprise qualifier Israel after a series of dull, uninspired games.

The first great moments of this memorable World Cup happened in Group 3, where two-time former World champion Brazil were pooled with the current world champions England and solid European sides Czechoslovakia and Romania.

In Group 4, Peru and its attacking style created a sensation by beating established side Bulgaria 3-2 after trailing 0-2 at halftime. Morocco also got off to a bright start, taking the lead against West Germany in their first match, but the Germans came back to win 2-1. In the end, Peru eventually advanced along with West Germany after scoring three times in 11 second-half minutes to beat Morocco 3-0.

Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and third-place match

The quarter-finals saw a transformed Italy prevail 4-1 over Mexico after trailing 0-1.

The game between Uruguay and the Soviet Union was goalless until five minutes from the end of extra time, when Victor Esparrago struck to send the South Americans through. The last quarter-final, a rematch of the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany, produced one of the great matches of World Cup history.

The semi-finals featured an exciting final four, all four having won the World Cup in the past: Brazil vs Uruguay, in a rematch of the 1950 World Cup final, and Italy vs West Germany.

Final

In the final, Brazil struck first, with Pelé heading in a cross by Rivelino at the 18th minute. Roberto Boninsegna equalized for Italy after a blunder in the Brazilian defence. In the second half, Brazil’s firepower and creativity was too much for an Italian side that clung to their cautious defensive system. Gérson fired in a powerful shot for the second goal, and then helped provide the third, with a long free kick to Pelé who headed down into the path of the onrushing Jairzinho . Pelé capped his superb performance by drawing the Italian defence in the center and feeding captain Carlos Alberto on the right flank for the final score. Carlos Alberto’s goal, after a series of moves by the Brazilian team from the left to the center, is considered one of the greatest goals ever scored in the history of the tournament.

This victory consecrated the first tri-campeão (three-time champions) in football history.

With this third win after 1958 and 1962 , Brazil earned the right to retain the Jules Rimet Trophy permanently. (Ironically, it was stolen in 1983 while on display in Rio de Janeiro and never recovered.) Brazilian coach Mário Zagallo was the first footballer to become World Cup champion as a player (1958, 1962) and a coach, and Pelé ended his World Cup playing career as the first (and so far only) three-time winner.

Brazilian right winger Jairzinho scored at least one goal in each of the six games that Brazil played (in the first game, against Czechoslovakia, he scored two), a feat which has never been repeated. However, the top scorer of the tournament was West Germany’s Gerd Müller, with an impressive 10 goals in the competition. Müller incredibly scored hat-tricks in two consecutive games, against Bulgaria and Peru in the group stage.

Mascot

The official mascot of this World Cup was Juanito, a boy wearing Mexico’s uniform and a sombrero .

Venues

Five cities hosted the tournament:

• Guadalajara , Estadio Jalisco
• León , Estadio Nou Camp
• Mexico City , Estadio Azteca
• Puebla , Estadio Cuauhtémoc
• Toluca , Estadio Luis Dosal