The Game of the Century

October 14th, 2011 | by: elaine | Comments Off

Sometimes we see a game and think that it was an epic game. But one match was so incredible, that over 40 years later it is still known as the Game of the Century. It was Italy vs. West Germany in the semifinals of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. With two European football powers clashing for one spot in the coveted World Cup finals and players from both teams who are legends, it was probably always destined to be epic.

It was June 17th, 1970 in Mexico City at the Azteca Stadium. There were over102,000 fans in attendance to watch the match. The Mexican fans were in no mood to support Italy, as Italy had eliminated the host nation from the tournament. Mexican Referee Arturo Yamasaki Maldonado could hardly know that he would become part of a legendary match which would be remembered long after the World Cup final was decided.

Italy coach Ferruccio Valcareggi had opted to start Sandro Mazzola ahead of European Footballer of the Year Gianni Rivera, who started on the bench. Captained by Giacinto Facchetti, they were anxious to get to the Final, where the winner would retire and thus keep the Jules Rimet trophy for good. But Coach Helmut Schön and his boys had other plans.

The game got off to an exciting start, with Roberto Boninsegna finding the back of the net off of a rebound in the 8th minute. But from there, West Germany controlled the match, and Italy did their very best defending. How good was their defending, you ask? So good that they completely shut down the one and only Gerd Müller for the entire 90 minutes.

It was an epic battle which saw yellow cards, being used for the first time in a World Cup tournament, issued to West Germans Müller and Overath, as well as to Italians Rosato, Domenghini, and De Sisti. But much more memorable was when the legendary Franz Beckenbauer dislocated his shoulder and refused to be substituted, instead being bandaged up and playing from about 60 minutes on in this condition. I don’t know if that’s very, very brave, or very, very stupid, as he was not very effective injured. But who am I to question a legend?

Well, the match was very intense, as you can imagine, with Italy defending like a mama bear defending her cubs, and West Germany attacking repeatedly in waves. Just when it looked like Boninsegna’s early goal would send the two time world champions into the final, a German miracle happened. In the 92nd minute, Grabowski, who thought he’d scored a goal earlier in the match that was disallowed for having not actually crossed the line, now crossed the ball to one Karl-Heinz Schnellinger.

Schnellinger played in Serie A, at this time for AC Milan and previously for Roma. But on this day, he scored the equalizer for his country, in stoppage time. A German commentator was quoted as saying “Schnellinger, of all people.” Because Schnellinger was a defender who never scored goals. In fact, this was his singular goal in his entire career for West Germany, all 47 caps. But this incredible goal is only the beginning of why this match is called the “Jahrhundertspiel” in German.

Schnellinger’s goal forced added extra time, with both teams tied at 1. Luigi Riva is quoted as saying “It wasn’t that good a game in the first 90 minutes. The extra time was where things really got exciting.” And he had a point. It was a battle of endurance, but also a battle of goalscoring.

In the 5th minute of extra time, Müller finally found some space when a header from Seeler wasn’t cleared in time, and he made Italy pay by blasting it past Albertosi into the back of the net. Italy 1, West Germany 2. Just 4 minutes later, Italian defender Burgnich scored and  tied it up to make it 2-2. Then 2 minutes before the end of the first half of added extra time, Domenghini passed it to Riva, who scored to make it 3-2, Italy.

But the fans still had more goals to watch before it was time to go home. At the magic number of  5 minutes into the second half of added extra time, Müller scored again. His extra time brace brought him to a total of 10 goals scored in the tournament, and would prove to make him the overwhelming top scorer for this world cup. It also drew the teams level at 3-3 and kept Germany’s hopes alive. For a minute.

While the TV cameras were still replaying his goal, in the 111th minute of this epic match, Boninsegna crossed it to Gianni Rivera, who had replaced Mazzola in the 46th minute, and now scored. He would be Italy’s final hero of the match. Italy 4, West Germany 3. “Partita del Secola” indeed.

This match saw a record 5 goals scored in added extra time. While people think that Italy only know how to defend, this was just one example of many where they proved they could rise to the occasion and play just as well offensively as they did defensively. Maybe Italy just defend that much better than everyone else, but there were 7 goals in this match, 4 of them belonging to Italy. That doesn’t sound very defensive to me.

Italy went on to claim 2nd place, losing to Brazil in the final, and Germany beat Uruguay to claim 3rd place. but this was a match that would not be forgotten. In fact, at the stadium in Mexico is a monument with a plaque memorializing this match. Translated, it reads “The Azteca Stadium pays homage to the National Teams of Italy (4) and Germany (3), who starred in the 1970 FIFA World Cup, the “Game of the Century.” June 17th, 1970.” Epic.

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Ding dong, the witch is dead…

Well I’m not actually dead, I’m just “nearly dead,” and thus this will be my final post here at the Italy World Cup Blog. Having tormented all of you for these past 6 ½ months, I decided to give you a break and leave you in the hands of more talented and capable bloggers. Thank you all for your support and comments. You were all very tolerant and kind to me, and I cannot thank you enough for that. It has been an honor to be your Azzurri guide for this little while.

I will still come back to annoy you in the comments section, and you are always welcome to visit me in my other realm, the realm of red and black: http://www.milanobsession.com You can also follow me on Twitter @milanobsession Grazie mille. Ciao!