The Football Tragic

If Uruguay's first match at the Mundialito was relatively peaceful, their second, against Italy, was full of drama. Some of this was probably due to the febrile atmosphere created by the Montevideo crowd; fairly subdued during the match against the Dutch, they now filled the air with constant chants and smoke bombs. The weak refereeing of the Spaniard Emilio Guruceta did not help either, although it must be added that he was indulgent to both sides, not just the Uruguayans.

In the first half, the game looked like being a repeat of the two sides' encounter at the 1970 World Cup: a tight, tense 0-0 draw in which both teams showed excessive respect to the other. This time, Ruben Paz and Venancio Ramos were unable to impose themselves as they had against Holland; the former was being closely watched by the Italians' midfield policeman Marco Tardelli, and Antonio Cabrini was dealing similarly efficiently with Ramos on the Uruguayan right flank.

Most of the enterprise in the first half came from the Roma winger Bruno Conti, a recent addition to the national team. Italy created what few chances arrived in the first period, but the two strikers, Francisco Graziani and the tall Alessandro Altobelli, failed to make the most of them. The absent Paolo Rossi would probably have snapped them up.

The second half saw the game open up, and the fouling become more aggressive. Giancarlo Antognoni went close for Italy with a free kick soon after the restart, but the Uruguayans were starting to look threatening. Soon after the hour, Paz for once got the better of Tardelli and rushed into the box, but made a mess of his eventual shot. A few minutes later Uruguay did score: the Italian keeper Ivano Bordon saved a close-range shot from Paz, but in the follow-up play the striker Waldemar Victorino was upended by Antognoni in the box, and a penalty was given. "Just as we expected," was the cynical comment from the Italian commentator Nando Martellini, but in truth the Italians could have few complaints; it was certainly a foul.

The veteran Julio Morales converted the penalty without ado, and the game quickly became more violent. On 70 minutes, a series of fouls by the touchline was followed by a brief all-in brawl, after which Cabrini and the Uruguayan right-back José Moreira were both sent off. Uruguay's accomplished keeper, Rodolfo Rodriguez, came into his own in the final stages, saving well from Graziani and Antognoni. Nine minutes from the end, Uruguay scored a second when Ramos crossed from the right, and Victorino, continuing his inspired run of form, chested the ball down before firing adroitly past Bordon.

In the final minutes, a wild, frustrated foul by Tardelli on Paz produced a third red card, and the game limped to the finish line. "If Uruguay's intention is to win the trophy by any means, they could have told us and saved us the journey," complained Italy's manager, Enzo Bearzot. But apart from the intimidation of the crowd, there was little reason for Italy to feel aggrieved.

The Italy v. Netherlands match thus became an irrelevance, and the game was notable only for the debut of a tough young Roma midfielder of whom we would hear a great deal in years to come: Carlo Ancelotti. It was, in fact, the future dean of European managers who scored Italy's goal, a smartly-taken right footed shot on seven minutes. Eight minutes later, the Dutch equalized through their captain Jan Peters, beating Bordon from distance in the best traditions of Aarie Haan.

A day after Uruguay's victory over Italy, Brazil and Argentina produced the finest game of the competition. Forewarned by both the events of the previous day and the two rivals' spiteful encounter at the 1978 World Cup, the Austrian referee Erich Linemayr took charge of the game impressively from the outset, making it clear that rough play would not be tolerated. The result was a relatively well-mannered game in which both sides were prepared to let the other play.

Maradona, this time, was marked very loosely, if at all; Brazil did not possess a Briegel in their ranks. Instead, Tele Santana's side produced some of the fluent football they were to show in Spain, although there was a certain lack of bite in the front third. Socrates, wearing the No.9 shirt, was playing almost as a centre-forward, alternating with the young Renato. 

On the half-hour mark, shortly after Ramon Diaz had forced a good save from the Brazilian keeper Carlos, Maradona scored an excellent goal. Hurdling Batista in midfield, he ran on into the box, cut inside a static Oscar easily and beat Carlos at his near post. 

There were half-chances for Renato and Toninho Cerezo before the break, and Maradona might have scored another when Osvaldo Ardiles cleverly played him through, but he was called back for offside - a marginal decision.

Brazil were given fresh impetus in the second half with the arrival of the winger Paulo Isidoro. Only two minutes after the break, Isidoro forced a good save from Ubaldo Fillol, and the ball broke to the right-back Edevaldo, who sent a thundering cross-shot past the Argentina keeper. 1-1.

There were plenty of chances in a vibrant final half-hour. Cerezo, played through superbly by the other winger, Zé Sergio, had his shot smothered by Fillol. Brazil might have had a penalty soon after when Isidoro, a constant menace to the Argentinian defence, had his shirt slyly pulled by Americo Gallego. At the other end, Argentina's own substitute, José Valencia, hit the base of the post, and his collision with Carlos forced the latter to withdraw injured, giving way to the substitute keeper Joao Leite. Just before the final whistle, the largely anonymous midfielder Tita slipped unnoticed through the midfield and was left one-on-one with Fillol, but the keeper again rushed off his line just in time to smother the shot.

It had been a pleasing display from two excellent sides, and a draw was a fair result. Brazil, then, had to beat the Germans by a decent margin to reach the final ahead of Argentina on goal difference - a situation which must have conjured up memories of 1978, when the roles were reversed.

Stay tuned for Part 4.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 5:38 PM