The Football Tragic

On the morning of his knee operation, Jean-Pierre Adams was in good spirits, despite having his coaching course interrupted by yet another niggling injury. "It's all fine, I'm in great shape," he told his wife Bernadette. It was a routine operation, meant to take only a couple of hours.

Long after it was supposed to be done and dusted, Bernadette had heard nothing from the hospital. She rang, and was fobbed off. She and her children began to worry. On the fifth call, she was finally passed on to a doctor, who told her to come at once.

An anaesthetist, wretchedly overworked and ministering to eight patients that morning, had given Adams an incorrect dose. As if that were not enough, the operation was being overseen by a trainee doctor who was repeating a year. Adams had suffered a bronchospasm, affecting the flow of oxygen to his brain, and had slipped into a coma.

The reason for the patently inadequate care afforded to the former international footballer was that familiar French pastime, la grève. A strike had denuded the hospital of all but its least experienced clinicians. The trainee doctor later admitted, in court, that he was "not up to the task". It was also conceded that since the majority of the hospital were on strike and it was not a vital operation, it should have been postponed.

Should have.

The doctors told Bernadette that there was little hope of Jean-Pierre ever awakening, but she kept vigil by his side day and night. When the hospital he had been moved to in Chalon could no longer look after him, Bernadette took him home - and devoted the rest of her life to ministering to the man she loved, and who she continued to hope would, by some medical miracle, emerge from his coma.

Custom-building a house to support her husband, she named it the Mas du Bel Athlète Dormant - the House of the Beautiful Sleeping Athlete. The word mas, tellingly, carries a connotation of a country estate rather than a simple house.

Supported financially first by Adams' former clubs Nîmes and PSG, and eventually by the French federation as well, Bernadette was able to eke out an existence (and support her children) while attending to Jean-Pierre. Ultimately, after a painful struggle, a court settlement with the hospital relieved her of any remaining financial worries. She cooked vegetables and mushed them into an edible form, and mastered the art of feeding him. She still spoke to him. She got her sons to watch football matches on TV with him. She continued to hope.

But of all Adams' friends and team-mates of the past, very few visited him. And they all tended to give the same reason: it was just too painful to think of their cheerful, larger-than-life friend of days past in such a pitiful state.

Touchingly, one friend who did visit was one of Adams' very first mentors in his professional days. On the occasion of Jean-Pierre Adams' 70th birthday, Adolf Scherer's visit warmed Bernadette's heart. A hero at the 1962 World Cup, where he helped Czechoslovakia to the final, Scherer had settled in France and was a respected veteran at Nîmes when Adams arrived there in 1970.

Perhaps most touchingly of all, Marius Trésor, Adams' close friend and partner in central defence, who had never been able to bring himself to visit, was reunited with Bernadette in early 2020. Forgetting all her resentment, Jean-Pierre's ministering angel fell into Trésor's arms, the two shared stories, and Trésor promised to visit - soon. But then Covid-19 struck.

Jean-Pierre Adams passed away on September 6, 2021. He deserves to be remembered.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 9:57 AM 0 comments

With Jean-Pierre Adams in its ranks, the little Nîmes club achieved its best-ever domestic result in the 1971/72 season, finishing second behind Olympique de Marseille. Sure enough, after becoming an international regular as well, Adams was snapped up by the ambitious OGC Nice club in 1973. Right at the beginning of his period with the Côte d'Azur club, he had a hand in its finest hour - eliminating the mighty Barcelona from that season's UEFA Cup.

This was, it must be added, a Barcelona missing its recently-acquired maestro Johan Cruyff, who was still ineligible to play. But it still featured an array of Spanish internationals, plus the Peruvian World Cup star Hugo Sotil. 

Nice won the home leg 3-0. In this game, Adams played as an out-and-out sweeper, which many considered his best position. And it was in many ways a typical Jean-Pierre Adams performance: unfussy, unspectacular, but effective, especially in the air. This time, there was no question of getting forward to support the attack: the opposition was a daunting one, and Adams' job was to close any doors that might open at the back. 

The French side dazzled in the opening minutes. Their Dutch forward Dick van Dijk, who had helped Ajax to the European Cup title in 1971, showed particular verve and invention, and scored the opening goal from a right-wing cross after just four minutes. Subsequently Nice lost their rhythm somewhat, with their centre-forward Marc Molitor missing some good chances. Barcelona were a little unlucky when Sotil's goal just after the hour was ruled out for a probably nonexistent offside. But Molitor had the last laugh, scoring a second goal on the break before heading in a free kick ten minutes from the end.

Adams was now playing in central defence for the national team as well, and his partnership with Marius Trésor, a close friend, was blossoming. After Les Bleus won a friendly away to a Poland side featuring all its 1974 World Cup stars, the new French coach Stefan Kovacs paid particular homage to his garde noire - a phrase that surely requires no translation - of Trésor and Adams. The former's technical excellence and capacity to link up with the midfield was well complemented by the latter's intimidating power in the air and in the tackle. No less a judge than Franz Beckenbauer opined that Trésor and Adams constituted the best central defensive partnership in Europe.

The French thus went into the qualifying series for the 1976 Nations Cup in optimistic mood. Alas, it was to be a wretched campaign; the French failed to win any of their first three group matches, even against little Iceland, and by the time they faced East Germany in a crunch qualifier in Leipzig in October 1975, they had to gain at least a draw to retain even a slight chance of qualifying.

This was Adams' last competitive international. Not that his form gave any cause for dismay; in fact, he was one of France's best players on the day. But injuries punctuated his career to a greater extent after the Nations Cup campaign, and the great subsequent French revival, which he might have played a part in, took place without him.

East Germany were a straightforward, hard-running team who had reached the second phase at the recent World Cup, causing a shock by defeating their western neighbours. But they were without their star attacker, Jurgen Sparwasser, and France had begun to rebuild their team: the young St. Etienne duo of Dominiques, Bathenay and Rocheteau, were cementing their places in the side.

Yet it was another Dominique, goalkeeper Baratelli, who kept the French in the game early on with two smart saves. The French attackers too often ran into dead ends, and did little with the few free kicks they received; Michel Platini was yet to emerge. 

Adams, tackling furiously throughout, did as much as Baratelli to repel the relentless if somewhat predictable German sallies. And early in the second half, on one of his few forays into the attacking half, he provided the impetus for the French goal. A sharp one-two between Adams and the Marseille winger Albert Emon ended with the latter's shot being deflected to Bathenay at the far post, who slotted the ball home.

Hopes rose: an unlikely win, and the chance for progression to the Euro quarter-finals, was in sight. But it wasn't to last. In the penalty-box chaos following an East German corner, the centre-forward Joachim Streich was left unmarked, and scored. Then a completely unnecessary foul by the left-back François Bracci on the lanky Reinhard Häfner presented the Germans with a penalty, which was duly dispatched. France were out.

Adams' club career carried on, his stint with Nice being followed by two years at PSG. But problems with his knee forced a relatively early retirement. In the meantime, he had settled down to a happy family life with his adoring wife Bernadette and his sons Laurent and Frédéric. 

His final club posting at Chalon had seen him combine the roles of player and coach, and he looked forward to more coaching work in the years ahead. To this end, he undertook a coaching course in Dijon. But it was only a few days into this new venture that a new knee injury necessitated a trip to the hospital. The surgeon advised an operation as soon as possible. It was booked in for March 17, 1982.

The dreadful events of that day changed the lives of Adams and all those who loved him. To be concluded in Part 4.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 3:32 PM 0 comments

Jean-Pierre Adams' first appearance in a France shirt was, ironically enough, against an African XI in Brazil's Taça Independencia of 1972. This bizarre, unwieldy and largely forgotten event was chiefly a propaganda vehicle for Brazil's military dictatorship, and its competitive value was dubious at best. Adams, significantly, came on as a substitute for the man with whom his name was to be associated for years to come - Marius Trésor, the elegant, resourceful defender who played such a major role in French football's resurgence in the late seventies.

Performing well enough to impress the France coach Georges Boulogne in Brazil, Adams kept his place in the side for the more serious business of World Cup qualification. The favourites in their group were the Soviets, finalists in the Nations Cup of 1972 and always a formidable proposition in the lead-up to a World Cup; dead rubbers aside, they had not lost a qualifying match since 1957. And they were France's first opponents, in a home tie in Paris.

For this game, Adams played not in defence, but in central midfield. Boulogne fielded a youthful team in a 4-2-4 formation, with St. Etienne regulars Hervé Revelli and Jean-Michel Larqué in the key attacking roles.

In the first half, France played with fluency but not much penetration; there was almost a hint of deference about their approach. Adams played as he so often did: unspectacularly but well, making the most of his physical power and aerial ability. Although he rarely advanced into the final third, he often posed danger when he did so, once having a very good penalty claim denied after a brisk one-two with Revelli. It was these one-twos around the edge of the area, very much in the style of the great French side of 1958, that constituted France's chief tactic.

At half-time, the commentators were nervous. The Soviets were renowned for their fitness and stamina, and they seemed to have played within themselves up to that point. "I worry about the last 20 minutes," remarked one of the 1958 heroes, Roger Piantoni.

As it happened, it was the final 20 minutes which were the most heartening of all for the French fans. On the hour they went ahead when Larqué touched off a free kick to the left-winger Georges Bereta, who sent a powerful low shot into the Soviet goal. Liberated, the French now attacked with renewed verve; Trésor even executed one of his trademark runs out of defence and shot against the post, while Bereta almost gave a repeat performance eight minutes from the end, this time bringing a fine save out of the Russian keeper Yevhen Rudakov. 

By the end of the game, Revelli, Larqué, Bereta and the young right-winger Serge Chiesa were combining and switching in the best traditions of Fontaine, Kopa and Piantoni. Behind them, Adams and his midfield partner Henri Michel had been quietly effective. It was a significant victory, and French football seemed to be on the upturn.

It was to be a flash in the pan. Taking just one point from their two games against the other team in the group, Ireland, France needed to pull off the unlikely feat of defeating the Russians in Moscow in May 1973 if they were to retain any hope of qualifying. Succumbing to two late goals, they even finished bottom of the group.

But the campaign had cemented the position in the team of the two young defenders, Trésor and Adams, who had received plenty of plaudits. And Adams was soon on the move at club level, where another significant match awaited. To be continued in Part 3.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 12:44 PM 0 comments

On the 6th of September, 2021, with the Covid pandemic still hogging the headlines, a former French international passed away. In his time, he was a regular for Les Bleus, playing alongside a stellar cast which included Michel Platini, Dominique Rocheteau, Didier Six and Marius Trésor. Among his opponents during that time were such greats of the game as Eusébio, Mario Kempes, Gerd Muller and Oleg Blokhin.

He was also the first black player from France's West African colonies to wear the famous blue shirt with the rooster emblem. A trailblazer for the likes of Patrick Vieira, N'Golo Kanté, Ousmane Dembele and many more, in other words.

Yet little had been heard from him in the decades since his retirement from football. Outside of his home country, he was a forgotten figure.

And the reason for this is deeply sad. Due to a medical error with horrendous consequences, he had been in a coma for an extraordinary 39 years.

This is the little-known story of Jean-Pierre Adams.

Born in Senegal to a devout Catholic family, the young Jean-Pierre accompanied his grandmother on a pilgrimage to France and was left there to be educated in a convent school, later to be adopted by a local family. Although racial prejudice in France was never as overt as it was on the other side of the Channel, Adams still found the adjustment difficult. But he gained both respect and an outlet for self-expression through his talent for football.

Beginning his career in the amateur leagues as a striker, Adams quickly came to the notice of professional clubs, and was signed by Nîmes in 1970 after finishing his military service (in which, ironically, he found himself on the opposite side of the barricades to the rebellious soixante-huitards in Paris). It was the Nîmes coach Kader Firoud who converted him into a powerful midfield anchorman, a position from which he eventually moved into central defence, where he would remain for the rest of his career.

In the meantime, he had met and married a white woman five years his senior. Bernadette Adams originally found it difficult to convince her mother to consent to the marriage, but over the years Jean-Pierre's warm personality and devotion to Bernadette, which was amply reciprocated, won over the affection of his in-laws.

Adams' exploits at Nîmes brought him to the notice of the veteran national team coach Georges Boulogne, and in 1972 his international career began. By this time, his striking days were over, and he had settled into the role of enforcer.

What sort of player was Adams? In an era when French footballers were renowned more for technique than tenacity, Adams offered power, physicality and enthusiasm in spades. Strong in the air, indomitable in the tackle, a good reader of the game and a competent if unspectacular passer, he was a figure both reliable and inspiring. "He was a force of nature," recalled his international team-mate, Henri Michel. "Very strong physically, with lots of determination and willingness." The French sports journalist Jacques Vendroux compared him, somewhat whimsically, to his namesake Tony Adams, the Arsenal and England great. They both, said Vendroux, took on the task of sweeping up the scraps, leaving the others in the team free to express themselves.

Adams' first truly competitive international was to be a highlight of his career - more in Part 2.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 12:33 PM 0 comments

The convention of final group games at the World Cup (and other FIFA competitions) being played at the same time has its origin in the disgraceful stitch-up between West Germany and Austria in Gijón, which ensured the Algerians' elimination from the event. But in truth, the Algerians had a good chance to ensure their participation in the second round after their first half against Chile in Oviedo. But a certain inexperience - and perhaps the giddiness of success - denied them.

Chile came into the final game with virtually nothing to play for; it was still mathematically possible for them to qualify, but in football terms it would have been a miracle. Lively at times against Austria, they had looked frail and disjointed against the Germans. For the game against Algeria, the veteran Carlos Caszely - a hero of 1974, when he had caused Australia plenty of problems - was restored to the attack. But he was a much less threatening figure now, carrying a fair few extra pounds, and it was only when he was substituted that Chile really came to life. Elias Figueroa, in the centre of defence, was another survivor of 1974; still a force in the air, he was by now easily mastered on the ground.

The Algerians made three changes. Surprisingly, both Lakhdar Belloumi and Djamel Zidane were omitted, despite showing plenty of class in the earlier games. Still, it was hard to gainsay the personnel choices of Rachid Mekhloufi, given that Algeria shot to a 3-0 lead in just over half an hour!

From the very start, Chile's defence looked pitifully vulnerable. Tedj Bensaoula, Zidane's replacement in attack, had a chance in the very first minute, and in the eighth minute he cleverly set up the opening goal, wrong-footing the Chilean defence with a neat cutback which left Salah Assad, frequently switching between the left wing and the centre, with an open goal.

The movement and adroitness of Algeria's front three was impressive, and too much for the Chileans; Rabah Madjer, drifting over to the left, hit the post with a curling shot on 14 minutes. Mehdi Cerbah saved a good long shot from Miguel Neira at the other end, and then it was Bensaoula's turn again, crashing a shot against the woodwork. On the half-hour, Algeria went further in front when Abdelmajid Bourebbou, another new addition to the team, received a long ball from the left and pushed it aside for Assad, completely unmarked, to score the second via a deflection off Figueroa.

The inept Chilean defence conceded a third soon after. Bensaoula, played in nicely by the captain Ali Fergani, had an eternity to take a touch, pick his shot and score. In the final minute of the half, the Chilean defence presented the ball to Bensaoula in front of goal once more, but this time he shot straight at the keeper Mario Osben.

3-0 at the break. If it had stayed that way, it would have been next to impossible for Algeria to miss out on the second round. And if they had scored another, it would have been genuinely impossible.

It was, in a way, an awkward dilemma. Should they sit on the lead, or go for more? In the end, they tried to choose a middle ground, which only resulted in a disjointed second-half performance...and an unexpected Chilean comeback.

At the beginning of the second half, Algeria looked as if they weren't sure what to do now they were three goals ahead, while Chile just looked as if they wanted to go home. But the game changed when the completely ineffectual Caszely was withdrawn in favour of Juan Carlos Letelier, a younger and quicker forward. With the Algerians now playing lazy football, dinking hopeful long balls forward and letting some slackness creep into their defensive play, Chile worked their way back into the game.

Chaabane Merzekane was still a dominating figure on the Algerian right, so Chile sensibly directed their attacks to the other flank, where Letelier and the young Patricio Yanez, by far Chile's best player throughout the event, started posing the flat-footed Algerian central defenders problems. Sure enough, just before the hour they won a penalty when Yanez, on the edge of the box, swept easily past Noureddine Kourichi and was fouled by the stand-in left-back, Salah Larbes. Neira put the spot-kick away without ado.

A second goal for Chile followed fifteen minutes later. Connecting with a long ball from the right, Letelier touched the ball neatly past the other centre-back, Mahmoud Guendouz, rounded Cerbah and picked a shot past the defenders scuttling back to the line.

Belatedly, the Algerians realised that their chances of qualification were slipping away, and they started attacking once more. Bensaoula forced a save from Osben, and Assad, on a hat trick, crashed a shot against the right-hand post. At the other end, Yanez could well have had another penalty when his pace again proved too much for Kourichi, forcing the Algerian defender into a sly trip.

It finished 3-2, but the winners had their heads down at the final whistle. Somehow, even if they couldn't predict the scandalous fix that was to occur the next day, the Algerians seemed to know that they'd blown it.

But they had proven a great deal. The first African team to defeat European opposition at the World Cup, the first African team to win twice at the World Cup, and, to this day, the only team not to have qualified for the second round after two first-phase wins. Not to forget, the team which, by its plainly righteous protests after the Anschluss, forced FIFA to bring their first-round schedule in line with fairness and common sense.

It was a good World Cup for Africa in general. Elsewhere, Cameroon became the first African side to go through the event undefeated, even though they were edged out of a second-round berth by the smallest of margins by the eventual champions, Italy. At the next World Cup, an African side would progress to the knockout stage, and in 1990, there was an African quarter-finalist. It would not be until 2022, however, that an African side would make it into the final four.

All of these distinguished successors owed something to the efforts of Algeria in 1982. And in a sense, a certain magisterial player of Algerian descent, whose two goals in the 1998 final led the former colonial power to its first World Cup triumph, was also the heir of Belloumi, Madjer, Merzekane and co. Not to mention Djamel Zidane.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 9:20 AM 0 comments

The day after the Algerians had shocked West Germany in Gijón, the other two teams in Group B of the 1982 World Cup took to the field for their opening match in Oviedo. It was the Austrians who prevailed, beating Chile by the only goal. It was, however, a laboured performance by the European side: soon after Walter Schachner's early headed goal, they conceded a penalty, which Chile's veteran forward Carlos Caszely put feebly wide. The Austrians held on to their lead for the remainder of the game largely thanks to the efforts of their excellent veteran goalkeeper, Friedrich Koncilia.

The Algerians, in other words, had every reason to believe that they could beat the book again when they faced Austria in Oviedo four days later (West Germany had thumped Chile 4-1 in the meantime). 

The game was played in sapping heat, and initially the Austrians looked even more ponderous than they had against Chile. Koncilia came to their rescue early, when a right-wing move by the Algerians ended in a shot by Djamel Zidane, which brought a brilliant save from the Austrian keeper. At the other end, however, the canny strikers Schachner and Hans Krankl were already posing the somewhat inflexible Algerian defence some problems. When Krankl was tripped in the box by Faouzi Mansouri on 18 minutes, the referee, Australian Tony Boskovic, should certainly have awarded a penalty.

The rest of the half saw the Algerians on top. Koncilia needed to be on his mettle again just after the half-hour when Rabah Madjer shot from close range; from the resulting corner, Madjer tested Koncilia again with a looping header which the Austrian keeper tipped over the bar. Boskovic again showed undue leniency when Moustapha Dahleb was shockingly body-checked on the way to goal by the Austrian captain Erich Obermayer.

The second half was a different story. Having withstood the early pressure, Austria now brought on an energetic attacker in Kurt Welzl, and pounced on the Algerian lapses. 

The first goal arrived just before the hour. Chaabane Merzekane, as adventurous as ever at right-back, became stranded upfield, allowing the Austrian left-back Josef Degeorgi to advance down the left; he passed to Welzl in the middle, whose shot was deflected to the alert Schachner. The Cesena striker placed the ball deftly past Mehdi Cerbah to open the scoring.

Lakhder Belloumi was withdrawn in favour of another attacker, Tedj Bensaoula, but the rapid sequel was another Austrian goal. Again, the substitute Welzl was the provider, sliding a delightful pass through to Krankl on the left, who sent a superb curled shot past Cerbah. A couple of minutes later it was almost three, Schachner connecting with Krankl's pass and beating Cerbah again, only for Noureddine Kourichi to clear off the line.

The Algerians were now a beaten side, with the clever Austrian attackers drawing them out of shape at will, and coming close to adding to the scoreline on several occasions. There was a chance at the other end, Salah Assad being left unexpectedly free in front of goal, but the winger's pitiful miskick summed up Algeria's afternoon.

After the game, some of the Algerian players admitted that they had become a little over-confident after their giant-killing feat in Gijón. But they were still in with a good chance of qualifying: the points table read Austria 4, West Germany and Algeria 2, Chile 0, and the demoralised Chileans were to be encountered next. If Algeria could beat the South Americans by a decent margin, they were virtually through.

And, but for a certain lack of tournament nous, they would have been. More in Part 5.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 8:09 PM 0 comments

West Germany began their opening match at the 1982 World Cup with a formidable-looking side, which had changed little since the 1980 Nations Cup triumph. Bernd Schuster, the incisive Barcelona playmaker, was unavailable due to a knee injury, but the tricky winger Pierre Littbarski was an important addition, and the team had a charismatic leader in the forthright Paul Breitner, a hero of the 1974 tournament. Algeria, their opponents, had beaten Real Madrid in a warm-up game, but few expected them to trouble the European champions.

And the Germans did begin the game impressively, dominating the possession and making inroads on the flanks, largely thanks to the very lively Littbarski. Germany's chief supplier of goals, Karlheinz Rummenigge, had two good chances early on but failed to make the most of them, miscuing a header from Manfried Kaltz's cross before firing into the side netting when set up by Littbarski. The Algerians were gradually working their way into the game as the half wore on, and the fullbacks in particular were gaining in confidence, weathering the early storm on the flanks from the likes of Littbarski, Kaltz and Hans-Peter Briegel.

Mehdi Cerbah in goal was also growing in stature, particularly after doing well to cover Wolfgang Dremmler's shot ten minutes before the break. As the first half drew to a close, with the Algerians impressing with their close control and Cerbah covering his area diligently, it was hard to say who had the initiative. The Gijón crowd, needless to say, were cheering loudly for the underdogs.

Nine minutes after half-time, following a half-chance for Kaltz, Algeria went ahead. Djamel Zidane, his close control impressive throughout, picked a fine pass through to Lakhdar Belloumi, whose shot was saved by an advancing Toni Schumacher. The rebound, however, reached Rabah Madjer, who volleyed home from close range. "David 1, Goliath 0", remarked the German commentator, adding that the Algerians were looking more confident with every minute.

The game opened up. Zidane created another chance, this time for the left-winger Salah Assad, before Littbarski almost managed to dribble through the entire Algerian defence to score: Cerbah, again, was well-positioned to cover his eventual shot. The Germans did soon equalise, with a goal of high quality; a series of passes ended with a ball through to Felix Magath on the left, whose crisp cutback was bundled over the line by Rummenigge. Sighs of relief from the German bench.

But almost straight from the kickoff, Algeria went back in front, with a mirror-image goal: Assad, slipping into the inside-left channel, was played in alertly by Moustapha Dahleb, and pulled the ball back for Belloumi to score.

The Germans threw men into attack in the final twenty minutes, including the sweeper Uli Stielike, and were rewarded with a seemingly endless series of corners, with which, unfortunately, they did next to nothing. Horst Hrubesch, the powerful centre-forward, was winning plenty of balls in the air but could not direct them on target. At the other end, Chaabane Merzekane, having a superb game at right-back, bullocked his way right down the field and almost scored, Schumacher eventually coming to the Germans' rescue. 

The final minutes were packed with incident. From the Germans' fifteenth (!) corner, Littbarski finally found the net, but the play was called back for a foul - somewhat dubiously. Then Madjer missed a superb chance to make it 3-1, putting a pass from Merzekane just wide. Hrubesch beat Cerbah with yet another header in the final minute, but the ball came back off the bar; then Cerbah flung himself to catch a powerful shot from Briegel. The final whistle blew, to Algerian delight and German disbelief.

It was, in its own way, a shock as great as North Korea's victory over Italy in 1966, or even the USA's win over England in 1950. Derwall, to his credit, ate some humble pie in the aftermath. "Algeria played very intelligently, and they surprised our defenders, who fell apart in the second half." Belloumi, pointedly, dedicated his goal to the 20th anniversary of his country's independence - due just a few weeks after the game. In Algeria, street parties abounded. In Essen, in the Ruhr, a bar owner put up a sign warning that anyone talking about football would be ejected.

But, as we saw recently when Saudi Arabia shocked Lionel Messi's Argentina, one match doth not a World Cup make. Next up for Rachid Mekhloufi's men: Austria. To be continued in Part 4.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 8:44 PM 0 comments

In 1978, Tunisia had given notice that African teams were no longer to be taken lightly at the World Cup; the memories of Zaire's calamitous showing in 1974 had largely been laid to rest. And Algeria's victims in the playoff for one of the two African spots at the 1982 tournament were Nigeria - who had beaten Tunisia earlier in the qualifying competition.

Evgeny Rogov's seasoned domestic eleven had been buttressed, at the time of the World Cup, by several players plying their trade overseas, mostly in France. With Tunisia in 1978, by contrast, possessing only one player with foreign experience, there should have been every reason to take the Algerians seriously.

Nevertheless, Algeria's mediocre showing at the recent African Nations Cup, and some disciplinary issues, meant that their chances were not rated highly in many quarters. "Hard-pressed not to finish bottom of their group," was the verdict of the Sunday Telegraph prior to the tournament. David Lacey in the Guardian, however, was more generous in his assessment: "A reasonably well-organised side, not easily upset by the speed and stamina of their European opponents."

Many of the previewers, perhaps stuck for something interesting to write, noted that Algeria boasted one of the tallest central defensive pairings at the event in Mahmoud Guendouz and Noureddine Kourichi, the latter based in France. These two would indeed prove a handful for opposing attackers in the air, although, as we shall see, they were not quite so effective on the ground. Behind them, ironically, was one of the shortest goalkeepers at the event in Mehdi Cerbah, but on many occasions his agility - "Little Cat" was his nickname - made up for his lack of height.

Perhaps the player who most personified the Algerian performance in Spain was the attacking right-back Chaabane Merzekane, who was to have a superb game against the Germans. Virtually unknown outside his own country prior to the tournament, his powerful attacking forays and flair for the spectacular made him one of the stars of the opening round. Less spectacular but just as effective was his counterpart on the left, Faouzi Mansouri, another of the France-based contingent.

The Algerian midfield in 1982 consisted of the captain, Ali Fergani, a thoughtful defensive midfielder, the hard-working Moustapha Dahleb, a Paris Saint-Germain player, and African Footballer of the Year Lakhdar Belloumi, who would often provide the link between midfield and attack. A regular target of European scouts, the elegant Belloumi had already come close to joining Barcelona prior to the 1982 tournament, and in later years a transfer to Juventus was only scuppered due to an unfortunate injury.

In attack, there was a familiar name: Zidane. But this was Djamel Zidane, an accomplished and technically outstanding forward based at Kortrijk in Belgium. No relation to the future superstar, but an inspiration: in 1982, the boy who was to lift the World Cup sixteen years later was apparently thrilled to watch a namesake in action for the nation of his ancestry, performing so well.

In Algeria's 4-3-3 system, Zidane frequently played the role of the withdrawn No.9, making space for - and often picking out - the faster players beside him: Salah Assad, the left-sided greyhound who was to score a brace against Chile, and Rabah Madjer, later to become a star in Europe with Porto.

Algeria faced a formidable first-up opponent in West Germany, the reigning European champions. Powering through their qualifying group with a 100% record, Jupp Derwall's side went into the event as one of the favourites. 

Yet, given their difficulty against Tunisia in 1978, the Germans' implicit pre-game dismissal of their African opponents seemed a clear case of hubris. Derwall stated that if the Germans didn't win, he might as well take the next train home. Even more insultingly, the always good-for-a-quote captain Paul Breitner quipped that "we will dedicate our seventh goal to our wives, and the eighth to our dogs". Quite a prediction, given that the Germans hadn't even been able to find the net once against Algeria's North African neighbours in 1978.

And sure enough, hubris met nemesis in Gijón. More in Part 3.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 8:59 AM 0 comments

Plenty of matches at the World Cup have become notorious for their violence; Hungary v. Brazil 1954, Italy v. Chile 1962, Portugal v. Netherlands 2006. But perhaps the most disgraceful match in the history of the competition contained no violence at all...and, indeed, hardly any football at all.

This was the encounter between West Germany and Austria in Gijón on the 25th of June, 1982, in which Horst Hrubesch's early goal for the Germans was followed by eighty minutes of nothing. A parody of a match, in which the result desired by both teams was obtained early in the game, and retained for the duration. Inevitably, given the identity of the participants, the game was quickly dubbed the Anschluss.

Why did such a result suit both teams? Because it left the two sides level on points with the victims of the fix, Algeria, but with a superior goal difference. The Germans had to win, but not by too many goals. One would be preferable.

Even the German and Austrian commentators were shocked and embarrassed; the Austrian Robert Seeger even encouraged his viewers to switch the game off. The unrepentant Germans brushed away the inevitable outrage. "We wanted to progress, not play football," was the comment from the manager, Jupp Derwall.

Yet the focus on this match has, over the years, somewhat overshadowed the achievement - and the story - of the Algerian side, history-makers in many senses.

Algeria, finally gaining its nationhood in 1962 after one of the most bitter wars of independence of them all, had originally fared poorly in World Cup qualifying. Despite a history of producing players who became respected professionals in the French league, the Algerians had regularly fallen at an early stage of African qualifying prior to 1982. 

However, things were about to change. An impressive new generation of players was emerging which reached the final of the 1980 African Nations Cup, for which Algeria, incredibly, had not even qualified since 1968. The influence of an experienced Russian coach, Evgeny Rogov, was also important. Taking a leaf out of the book of Argentina's Cesar Luis Menotti, Rogov built a home-based team which functioned almost like a club side, playing a stream of friendlies and gradually forging a modus operandi. 

Rogov oversaw qualification for the 1982 World Cup in Spain, but just prior to the tournament he was replaced by a figure who was clearly considered a more fitting, and perhaps inspiring, figurehead for the Algerian team: Rachid Mekhloufi. The excuse given was Algeria's relatively poor showing in the 1982 African Nations Cup, but there were other reasons for the eleventh-hour appointment.

Mekhloufi's football career was almost an allegory for the history of his nascent country. Spotted playing for his local Sétif club as a teenager, he was brought to St. Etienne by the legendary French coach Jean Snella, and was a seasoned professional in the French league by 1958. That, of course, was the year in which France gained third place in the World Cup in Sweden. And Mekhloufi, already capped four times by France, might well have played a part in that achievement. But to the shock of the French authorities, he, along with a number of other Algerian professionals playing in France, joined the "rebel" FLN football team. It was no small sacrifice.

Banned by FIFA, this symbol of the Algerian independence movement played a number of friendlies against teams from the communist countries, and upon independence in 1962, some of them (like Mekhloufi) actually managed to resume their professional careers in France. But they were accorded enormous reverence within the new nation, and the symbolism of a FLN veteran leading Algeria into its first World Cup was irresistible.

Mekhloufi had a number of fine players to call upon, as well. More in Part 2.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 12:42 PM 0 comments