Friday, July 11, 2008

Anniversary Of Italy’s 1982 World Cup Triumph

Today is the 26th anniversary of Italy’s 1982 World Cup success against West Germany.


Marco Tardelli celebrating in the WC-Final 1982 vs Germany


The Azzurri won their third World Cup on July 11, 1982, defeating West Germany 3-1 in the final thanks to goals from Paolo Rossi, Marco Tardelli and Sandro Altobelli.

Enzo Bearzot’s men had a disastrous start to the tournament, only just scraping through the group stages on goal difference after drawing all three of their games against Peru, Poland and rank outsiders Cameroon.

After receiving vicious criticism in the press, the Italy team issued a press silence (silenzio stampa). They were given little hope in their second round group alongside World Champions Argentina and hot favourites Brazil.

The Azzurri defeated Argentina 2-1, but still went into their match against a brilliant Brazil team needing to win to reach the semi finals. Against the odds they managed to do just this, as Paolo Rossi hit a hat-trick in a classic 3-2 win in Barcelona.

Italy were now unstoppable, and they comfortably beat Poland 2-0 in the semis, thanks to a Rossi brace, before disposing of West Germany in the final, exactly 26 years ago to this day.

The long-lasting memories from the final include Dino Zoff lifting the cup at the age of 40, Antonio Cabrini’s historic penalty miss, Marco Tardelli’s screaming celebration (see picture above), and most of all legendary Italy President Sandro Pertini’s finger-wagging salute when Altobelli scored Italy’s third.

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