For those interested in some football history: In WORLD CUP 1982, Algeria began their campaign by recording a shock 2–1 win over West Germany on the opening day, becoming the FIRST African team to defeat a European team at the FIFA World Cup. They then went on to lose 0–2 to Austria before beating Chile 3–2 in their final match. As Algeria played that final match the day before West Germany met Austria, the two European teams knew what result they needed in order to qualify for the next round. A German win by one or two goals would see both West Germany and Austria qualify. A larger West German victory, by three goals or more, would see West Germany and Algeria qualify while a draw or an Austrian win would eliminate the Germans. After 10 minutes of furious attack, West Germany succeeded in scoring through a goal by Horst Hrubesch. After the goal was scored, the team in possession of the ball often passed between themselves in their own half until an opposition player came into the vicinity of the ball. The ball was then passed back to the goalkeeper. Isolated long balls were played into the oppositions half, with little consequence. For the next 80 minutes there were few serious attempts on goal, e.g. by Wolfgang Dremmler of West Germany. The only Austrian player who seemed to make any effort at livening the game up was Walter Schachner, though he had little success. This performance was widely deplored by all observers. German ARD commentator Eberhard Stanjek at one point refused to comment on the game any longer. Austrian commentator Robert Seeger bemoaned the spectacle and actually requested that the viewers should switch off their television sets. Likewise, many spectators were not impressed and voiced their disgust with the players. Chants of Fuera, fuera (Out, out) and Que se besen, que se besen (Let them kiss, let them kiss) were screamed by the appalled Spanish crowd, while angry Algerian supporters waved banknotes at the players. The match was criticized even by the German and Austrian fans who had hoped for a hot rematch of the 1978 World Cup match, in which Austria had beaten West Germany; one German fan burned the national flag in protest. The Algerian football officials were furious and lodged an official protest. However no rules were technically broken as a result of the match, so FIFA declined to take any action or investigation and the outcome was allowed to stand. Both teams denied any collusion during the match. The West Germans made it to the final, where they LOST to ITALY 3–1. Austria fell at the next group stage, to the benefit of eventual fourth place finishers France. LESSON LEARNED: Do NOT underestimate any team.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 11:43:04 +0000
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