1978 Football World Cup - Argentina
Argentina '78
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Official 1978 Football World Cup poster
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Official 1978 Football World Cup logo
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| Participant teams
| 101
(final tournament: 16)
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| Host
| Argentina
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| Champions
| Argentina (1st title)
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| Matches played
| 38
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| Goals scored
| 102
(2.68 per match)
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| Attendance
| 1,610,215
(42,374 per match)
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| Top scorer
| Mario Kempes (ARG)
6 goals
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The 1978 Football World Cup was held in Argentina. It was won by Argentina who beat the Netherlands 3-1 after extra time in the final. This win was the first World Cup title for Argentina who became the sixth team (after Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, and England) to be world champions.
The format of the competition stayed the same as in 1974: 16 teams qualified, divided into four groups of four. Top two teams in each group would advance to the second round, where they would be split into two groups of four. The winners of each group will play each other in the finals, and the second place finishers in the third place match.
The Netherlands lost their second World Cup final in a row, both times to the host nation, after already bowing to Germany in 1974. Mario Kempes of Argentina lead the competition in scoring with six goals.
In a first-round game against the Netherlands, Scotland's Archie Gemmill scored a famous goal, which was later made a part of a memorable scene in the movie Trainspotting. Scotland needed to win the game by three goals to advance to the second round, and Gemmill made it 3-1 only for the Dutch to score and deny Scotland with a 3-2 result.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding this World Cup, most notably dealing with Argentina's final game in the second round against Peru. Because of the goal difference criteria, Argentina needed to defeat the Peruvian side by at least four goals to qualify to the finals instead of Brazil, thanks to Brazil's 3-1 victory against Poland played a few hours earlier. The controversy lies with the fact that the Peruvian goalkeeper (Ramón Quiroga) at the time was actually born in Argentina and had, until that game, only let in six goals in five matches. Argentina, it should be noted, had only scored six goals in the competition up to this point; they put the same number past Peru, winning 6-0 and advancing to the final match. Nevertheless, players of boths sides still deny any agreement to favor Argentina.
Another controversial fact surrounding this world cup was that Argentina had suffered a military coup only two years before the cup. Because of this, some countries, most notably Holland, considered publicly if they should participate in the cup. Despite this, all teams eventually participated without restrictions.
First round
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Second round
Group 1
Group 2
Third place match
Final
Template:International Footballde:Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 1978
et:1978. aasta jalgpalli maailmameistrivõistlused
es:Copa Mundial de Fútbol de 1978
fr:Coupe du monde de football 1978
he:מונדיאל 1978
it:Mondiali di calcio Argentina 1978
ja:1978 サッカー・ワールドカップ
nl:Wereldkampioenschap Voetbal - 1978
no:VM i fotball 1978
pl:Mistrzostwa Świata w piłce nożnej 1978
pt:Copa do Mundo de 1978
sv:Världsmästerskapet i fotboll 1978
zh:1978年世界杯足球赛
References
