Week 29: Can They Do It On A Hot Sunday Afternoon In Guadalajara?
No Euros this summer. Top two leagues played in empty stadiums. Only play-offs for the rest and for some, no games at all. Add to that bio-secure test matches, a bunch of contests that no-one will see and a cancelled Olympic Games in Tokyo.
2020 was supposed to be a glorious summer of sport, including football, but it’s turning out to be anything but.
But with temperatures soaring into the nineties on Friday and a heavy dose of nostalgia, I’ve gone back fifty years (and before I was born) to look at the biggest game of that summer; a game that has lived long in the memory for lots of reasons.
The day was Sunday, June 7, 1970. Guadalajara, Mexico. It has been described as one of the best football games ever played.
Although it was a World Cup group fixture, it didn’t get much bigger than Brazil versus England in 1970. Brazil had won the competition in 1958 (the first time a team had triumphed outside of their own continent) and 1962. In ’58, a seventeen-year-old Pele had scored a hat-trick in the semi-final and two more against hosts, Sweden, in the final (both matches were won 5-2) and when he was uninjured early in the next tournament in Chile, they won it without him.
On a hat-trick of Jules Rimet wins, Brazil had arrived in England as one of the favourites but Pele and his teammates were booted out in the group by some roughhouse European tackling. England, of course, went on to win on home soil and then arrived in Mexico determined to retain their crown and with, many thought, an even better team than Ramsey’s wingless wonders.
Brazil wanted to straighten the record and with Pele making his World Cup swansong, when the draw was made the two heavyweights were paired together – there was no effective seeding system – in Group C. The second game for each of them would be against each other.
The game is often referenced, even today, for some of the most unforgettable moments in World Cup history. The following 10 things about the match include them, and a few you might not know so much about.
June 7 Early Hours – ‘Rise & Shine’
Brazil were determined to put 1966 and all that behind them and show they were the true world champions. But they knew that England wouldn’t give the trophy up without a fight and many observers marvelled at this match-up of method versus magic. Brazil’s fans clearly thought that England posed a significant risk too as about a hundred of them attempted to break into the player’s hotel and others blared klaxons and car horns in the early hours. Security in 1970 was a long way from what it is now, and England fans hardly covered themselves in glory either when some managed to get onto the team coach by pretending to be players. It ended up with Alf Ramsey lodging an official complaint with FIFA who then made one of their own to the Mexican government.
Pre-Match – Highs & Lows
The game – and all those in Group C – took place in the country’s most westerly city, Guadalajara, at the Estadio Jalisco, which was also the lowest altitude (1,500m) of any stadium in use. It was the second-largest (71,100) after the Azteca in Mexico City. The stadium was also used at the 1986 World Cup (when Mexico replaced Colombia as hosts at the eleventh hour) and Brazil were based at the stadium for that tournament too. There is still a close bond between the Brazilian national team and the people of Guadalajara to this day.
12.00 Midday – Mad Dogs and Englishmen
To suit European TV audiences, some of the key games – including this one and the opening match when Mexico met Russia – kicked off at noon local time. Of course, this meant many of them were played under intense sun and mid-thirty degree temperatures. This was the first World Cup that was broadcast all over the world. Some of this was also in colour for the first time as new colour TVs played an obvious part in the technological revolution and no future competition would be held without live games almost every day. I remember the 1986 World Cup and splashing water in my eyes as England and Morocco played out at goalless draw that began at 11pm BST, so I understand from an audience perspective but if you Google the match highlights, the brilliant sunshine reflecting off the yellow and white-shirted players gives you an idea of how hot it must have been to run around for 90 minutes.
7th minute – ‘What the f****g hell was that?’
Despite the world’s two best teams being on display and some of the greatest players to grace the game, the Mexican crowd took some impressing. Early on, Bobby Charlton, then a World Cup, European Cup (when he scored twice in the final) and Ballon D’or winner, hit a shot over the bar and got the bird from the crowd. Any thoughts that it was Brazil who had won the local’s backing were dispelled when they also booed Pele after he shot wide. Goodness knows how they greeted Bulgaria and Morrocco’s 1-1 draw a few days later. But, despite the heat and altitude and the wayward shooting of these two legends, the finals actually produced some of the most attacking football of any World Cup and the average goals per game has not been bettered since. Other than this game, Brazil scored 3 or 4 goals in every match they played.
18th minute – Pele Hates Banks
Without doubt one of, if not the, best save ever. Pele bulleted a downward header from a pinpoint cross into the bottom corner. He was so certain he’d scored he even shouted ‘GOAL!’ but somehow England’s Gordon Banks saved it. But that description barely does justice. It’s worth watching on a highlights reel because the more you see it the better it gets. The ball is moving so fast it doesn’t seem possible that it could be kept out. Banks, having to scramble across his line, reaches the ball when it’s already behind him but flicks it, miraculously, up and over the crossbar. Pele said all that was needed: “I could not believe what I saw. At that moment, I hated Banks more than any man in football. When I cooled down, I could only applaud him in my heart. It was the greatest save I have ever seen.”
59th minute – Cometh The Hour
Although the contest was absorbing, the game’s only goal didn’t arrive until almost on the hour. A slow build up in England’s half suddenly sprung to life when the ball found Pele and he laid it off for Jairzinho to rifle past Banks. It is a very similar goal to the fourth goal that Carlos Alberto hit past Italy in the final itself and Alberto graciously said that “it was almost the same situation, but I think Jairzinho’s was better.” That’s some statement, given that the goal in the final is generally considered one of the best World Cup goals of all time. For the record, when Jairzinho scrambled in a goal in the same match, he became the only man to score in every game of a World Cup.
64th minute – That Tackle By Moore
We’ve all known goals (or even saves) that live forever in the memory, but a tackle? Bobby Moore had led England to glory four years earlier but in 1970, he was at another level. Despite a false allegation of him stealing some jewellery in the build-up to the tournament, he was unruffled and in this match, he was at times on a one-man mission to stop Brazil scoring. Although he failed in that respect, the tackle on a flying Jairzinho – just a few minutes after the goal – was the one Baddiel and Skinner were on about, but he made another two that were almost as good, as well as many blocks and majestic strides from the back with the ball. In that tackle though, what made it so special was not only that he risked conceding a penalty but that he won the ball so cleanly and made it sit up so that he could get to his feet and begin an England counter-attack.
63th minute – ‘90 Minutes of Hurst, Never Stopped Me Dreaming’
Not a significant moment but still notable. In 1970, substitutions had been introduced at World Cups and England made two at this moment to try to get back into the game. Frannie Lee was hooked but many thought Geoff Hurst was lucky to not be taken off instead. His goal in the opening match against Romania might have been a factor, as well as his hat-trick four years earlier, as Ramsey might have felt he always had goals in him, but in this particular game he was virtually anonymous and it was said that you could count his touches on one hand.
68th minute – The Stuff of Nightmares
One of the incoming players in the double substitution was Jeff Astle. He had a fantastic club career – in 1968 his left foot thunderbolt won the FA Cup for West Brom – as well as gaining international recognition but he was constantly haunted by his cameo part in this game, which turned out to be his penultimate cap. Just four minutes after coming on, a miscued clearance fell to him just to the left of the penalty spot and that same left foot – not his preferred one to be fair – fired the ball inches wide. “You can’t win matches if you miss open goals!” exclaimed the BBC’s David Coleman, and although in hindsight it was hardly Ronnie Rosenthal, it probably should have gone in. Astle died at just 59 from a degenerative brain disease that was caused from playing football and his legacy will live on in the work that his family are doing to highlight recognition for the dangers of repeatedly heading footballs and the link to dementia.
Aftermath – Ready To Jack It In
With the recent passing of ‘Big Jack’ Charlton and Norman Hunter, it’s worth noting that both were also involved in this game. Well, they were in the squad, but neither made it onto the pitch on this occasion. Hunter only made a very brief substitute appearance as England lost a two-goal lead and went out to West Germany in the quarter-final in Leon. It’s easy to think of Charlton as a long-serving England legend like his brother, but he actually only became part of Ramsey’s plans in 1965 and by the time he went to Mexico, he was 35 and nearing the end of his career. He did play the next game as England beat Czechoslovakia to join Brazil in the last-eight but it was to be his last cap. On the flight back to England he approached Ramsey to tell him. “Great times … absolute privilege … getting older … slowing down … not sure I am up to it any more … time to step down” he told him. Ramsey agreed; “Yes, I had reached that conclusion myself.”
Aftermath – What A Grey Day
One strange footnote, literally, that has followed this game around was the colour of Brazil’s socks. I’ve covered the story of how they came to play in yellow in a previous article but by 1970 the yellow/green/blue combination was iconic, including white socks. But in this game, with England wearing all white, they wore…grey. Much has been made of this, including suggestions that they were borrowed from a local team to my own – that they were put in the wash with a rogue black sock. But the answer, it seems, is more logical and boring. In photos from the 1970 competition, the goalkeeper, Felix, is seen wearing the same plain grey socks with his black jersey and shorts. So the accepted theory is that they used spare pairs of goalie socks to avoid a clash. Either that or it was Felix’s jersey that got into the wash by mistake.
On the day, it was felt that England might have just edged it with their performance even though it was Brazil who took the points. Coasting to victory in the quarter-final, mistakes by England’s Peter Bonetti (in goal because Banks was taken ill) saw them knocked out and a potential rematch with Brazil in the final was denied. But, given this match wasn’t a final or semi-final and only had one goal, the fact it remains so revered throughout the game speaks volumes for what took place.
I wonder what recent games, and socks, will we still be talking about fifty years from now?
words Darren Young, D3D4 columnist