The Football Tragic

Once they had reached the second round, Argentina's fortunes at the 1974 World Cup fell away. Thrashed by the all-conquering Dutch, they went out of contention for good by losing 2-1 to their South American neighbours Brazil. The Poles, on the other hand, remained very much in the hunt for the grand prize. A somewhat fortunate 1-0 win over Sweden was followed by their fifth successive win, over Yugoslavia, another team who found their technical finesse overcome by the Poles' physical superiority. Our central character, Robert Gadocha, not only laid on the winning goal for Grzegorz Lato, but almost scored a goal which would have been mentioned in the same breath as Diego Maradona's 1986 masterpiece; a dazzling, sustained run through the Yugoslav defence which ended with a shot into the side netting.

In the "semi-final" against the German hosts, played on a rain-drenched pitch in Frankfurt, Poland looked the better side for considerable periods but failed to score, despite forcing Sepp Maier into some good saves. The legendary Gerd Muller scored a classic opportunist's goal, and despite the Poles' frantic efforts thereafter, it ended 1-0, and they were out of the final. Yet they would not go home empty-handed; in the third-place match, their opponents Brazil wasted a number of good chances, and another impressive burst of acceleration from Lato late in the second half brought the only goal of the game. Poland had snatched the bronze medal.

One consequence of their World Cup efforts was that the top Polish players were now very much in demand. Overseas clubs lined up to acquire the likes of Lato, Gadocha and the impressive midfield general Kazimierz Deyna. The Polish authorities, however, were not in a hurry to allow their stars to find postings abroad; the rule was, not until they turned 30. So it was that Lato and Deyna had to wait...but not Gadocha. As we shall see, he was a man with connections.

It was through one of those connections that he secured a move to Nantes, in France, and thus became the first of the 1974 Poles to experience professional football beyond the Communist bloc. Others were to follow: Lato, despite offers from the United States (including, apparently, a personal invitation from Pelé), moved to Lokeren in Belgium. Deyna had an injury-prone period with Manchester City, and, a few short years later, Zbigniew Boniek was one of the hottest properties on the continent, eventually forming a memorable partnership with Michel Platini at Juventus.

Gadocha's time at Nantes was not easy. French footballers were not lavishly paid, and his generous contract - based, so the complaints went, on "being on TV for three weeks" in 1974 - made him persona non grata. Henri Michel, one of the club's stalwarts, admitted later that the players could have treated him more warmly. The Canaris did win the French league with Gadocha in the squad, although his contribution was limited. There were mysterious "injuries", long absences from the team, and after two unhappy seasons Gadocha joined the exodus to the United States, joining the Chicago Sting.

Now 32, he failed to make much of an impression in his new surroundings, and soon limited himself to amateur and indoor football. He subsequently settled in America, although he visited his native Poland frequently.

But now back to Gadocha's 1974 comrade, Grzegorz Lato. After two years in Belgium, he moved to Atlante in Mexico. There, one of his team-mates was a first-round opponent from the 1974 World Cup - the Argentina winger Ruben Ayala, winding down his career after a long, successful stint with Atlético Madrid.

One day, the two new clubmates fell into conversation. To be concluded in Part 4.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 12:10 PM