1968 European Championship
"The Italian Job"
Third place play-off
Scotland vs The Soviet Union
Under the floodlights of the San Paolo Stadium, the two Runners-up of their respective groups gathered up for what was anticipated as a highly tactical match between the Soviet Union and Scotland. The former, now lacking the goalkeeping master that was Lev Yashin, were still seen as a capable side, while Scotland was still in the middle of its Golden Generation. Mikhail Yakushin’s players started off well, with Eduard Malofeyev crossing the ball in the 6th minute, which was awaited by a leaping Tommy Gemmill, from which the ball bounced off towards a stumbling Tommy Lawrence. 6 minutes in, and it was already a disaster for Scotland.
The moment Lawrence conceeded
The Tartans began to play catch up with the Soviets, as the former missed several opportunities. In the 38th minute, Alan Gilzean was knocked down in the Soviet penalty area by Yuri Istomyn, yet the referee Istvan Szolt didn't whistle! The Hungarian referee was quickly crowded by the Scottish players as they demanded a penalty to be taken, but all they got instead were gestures to go away. With that, the first half ended 1-0 for the USSR. Come the 2nd half, Scotland started much like in the previous 45 minutes, by attacking the Soviet box without many chances occurring, only for the Soviets to reply and make the entirety of the Scottish team nervous, with Lawrence performing acrobatics to keep the score only 0-1 for the USSR. Then, after only 5 minutes being played, Zsolt whistled for a penalty to be taken after Anatoliy Banishevskiy was fouled by Billy McNeill. Another disaster was on the horizon, but Lawrence saved the ball once Byshovets shot the ball from the white dot. It was still 1-0 for the Reds, but Scotland badly needed an equalizer. Finally, that equalizer came with 27 minutes to go, as Bobby Lennox tucked the ball amidst a scramble, and now it was back to square one for both sides. No more chances occurred in the remaining minutes, and soon enough - it was extra time.
The Scotland players celebrating after Lennox's equalizer
The Soviets continued their onslaught by attacking the Scottish side of the pits, as they dominated the match from then on. However, a defensively sound game from the Tartans meant that the ball wasn’t going in no matter what. With night setting in and 120 minutes of football being played, the European Championship would for the first time have a game decided via a coin toss. All of the players headed off to the dressing room, and captains John Greig and Albert Shesternyov had the call. Greig, being a native English speaker, immediately yelled “Heads!” as Zsolt flipped the coin… And it landed on tails. The Soviet players immediately began to celebrate, while the Scots didn’t know if they should laugh or cry, and neither did Jock Stein. The Soviets had won the match in the most unusual of ways, and the Scots lost it in the most unusual of ways.
The European Championship final
Italy vs Yugoslavia
10 years ago, Yugoslavia had knocked Italy out of the World Cup of 1958, which in itself was being held in Italy. Now, the Azzurri had a perfect chance to have their revenge against their neighbours, while the Yugoslavs were entering their second ever final in the decade. Although the well-known Olympics Stadium of Rome was not fully packed, the relatively sizable crowd of 68 thousand cheered loudly for Italy, as Ferrucio Valcareggi entered the pitch with his players to greet the Brazilians of Europe. With Gigi Riva not present for the match due to an injury, Italy would have to heavily rely on its defense, whereas Yugoslavia's own Dragan Džajić was all of a sudden stealing the show thanks to his goal in the previous match against England. As expected, Italy's Catenaccio tactics were met with Yugoslavia's highly physical style of play, with both sides not producing a lot of chances. Both Gioregio Ferrini and Giacinto Facchetti had their opportunities, though they were cleared by Serbian goalkeeper Ilija Pantelić. It continued on like this for some time, as the South Slavs mostly silenced whatever attack that was attempted by the Italians. Finally, with 5 minutes to go, Dragan Džajić ran up to Dino Zoff, flicked the ball passed the goalkeeper, and Yugoslavia now led 1-0 over Italy! The young attacker of Red Star Belgrade leaped in joy as he celebrated with his colleagues, while Italy was now having to attack, with no true striker in its squad.
The scenes from the first half, as Pantelić saves the ball
Italy's misery continued on as the second half commenced. Džajić once again found himself in a chance to score, but Zoff managed to defend for now. The Italians began to reply after a prolonged period of Yugoslav domination, with Antonio Juliano coming close to score before Mirsad Fazlagić cleared the ball. Following another chance by the guests, Zoff threw the ball, only to be catched by Džajić, who now ran past Zoff and passed it to Vahidin Musemić. The goal was empty, and Musemić shot it to make it 2-0 for Yugoslavia. With that, Italy's chances were now even slimmer, as the Azzurri began to attack out of desperation. In the end, a free kick screamer by Angelo Domenghini was the most Italy could do, as the referee whistled for the end of the match. After a hard fought and highly physical duel, Yugoslavia were crowned champions of Europe.
Ilija Petković and Giacinto Fachetti shaking hands after the match
With Yugoslavia becoming the third eastern-European team to win the Euros, the decade of love and the Beatles ends with the Blues from the Balkans lifting the Henri Dealunay trophy in the middle of Rome. Rajko Mitić's boys have proved to be a tough nut to crack from start to the very finish, and their efforts were awarded with a mixture of luck, patient playing and plenty of sweat. The group stage format in itself was considered a great success as well, with this becoming the most financially-profitable European Championship since 1952. Yugoslavia's players were awaited as heroes back home in Belgrade, as many within the YFA attributed this success with the professionalisation of the league that they set into motion in 1960. Meanwhile in Italy, Serie A's own new rules seemed to have raised the game of the national team as well, especially when compared to Italy's performances in the past World Cups. Speaking of...
1970 would see a new first, as the upcoming World Cup was to be held in Central America's footballing powerhouse - Mexico. The hosts were unanimously selected to handle the tournament back in 1962, and hopes were high for another quality edition of the event, following the inredible success of the 1966 World Cup in England. This was going to be the first World Cup that would be broadcast in colour; Pele was going to play his final World Cup, and even a war broke out between Honduras and El Salvador while they were trying to qualify for the World Cup. Truly, it was going to be a momentous occasion. Further changes occured within the qualifying format as well. While Europe was guaranteed to feature 12 teams, the establishment of the OFC qualifiers meant that a new spot had to be considered. FIFA then thought up of a intercontinental play-off, where the AFC winners would play against a designated opponent. Luckily for Australia, their first opponent would be Nigeria, the runners-up of the CAF qualifiers. After two games, the Socceroos comfortably beat the Super Eagles to achieve their first ever participation in the World Cup.
And with that, these are the upcoming groups for the 1970 World Cup:
Group 1 - Belgium, El Salvador (Debut), Mexico (Host), Soviet Union
Group 2 - Italy, Israel (debut), Sweden, Uruguay
Group 3 - Australia (debut), England (holders), Hungary, Romania
Group 4 - Bulgaria, Germany, Peru, Scotland
Group 5 - Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Morocco (debut), Yugoslavia
(three best-ranked runners-up in the group qualify for the knockout stage)